Full text of "Dragon User Magazine Issue 10"

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75p US$3.25 February 1984 



^/^ 



The independent Dragon magazine 



Graphics 
animation 

\ 

Getting down 
to business 

Play Tracker, 
Drag Racing 
and Chess 




dUBLE 



CHANCE ^^^A 



DOUBLE 



PRIZE 



Two sets qjl^ 
extension 

"lodiiles 



i^'' 



Educational 

software 

under review 




\ 






Ll 



11/ 



t*^ 



7h 



iV 



PRESENTS... 



RAINBOW Wl 

RAINBOW WRITER 

jAiNBOW WRITER ^'^ 
Hainbow Writer 

RAINBOW WRITER 



Rf)(N60W- 
WRITER 

SCREEN 
ENHANCER 



4^ 



^^•>>^:^, 



FEATURES: 



The ultimate in hi-res graphics text display. Allows your Computer to write text 

on any graphics screen in Rainbow colours 

CHECK THESE IMPORTANT ^ 

• ML extension of BASIC completely interfaced and 
transparent Incorporating direct conversion of all 
keys and commands including PRINT @. 

• Automatic underline, superscript, subscript, reverse 
video, top and bottom definabfe scroll protected 
options. 

• User friendly - easy operation via Status/Help 
screen, simple commands, no messy peeks and 
pokes, 

• Use all day for hi-density screen displays, graph 
labels and Itstings, or incorporate into your own 
marketed BASIC or ML games, word processors, etc. 

• Includes demo program, tape/disk conversion 
instructions, character generator program, and 
operators manual. 

• Large colored letters for cfiildren or video recorders 
direct from keyboard or program. 



User definable 224 ctiaracter set featuring true 
lowercase witti descenders, improved cursor, 
slashed zero, Greek math symbols, lunar landers, 
stick figures, tanks, cars, planes, card suits, etc, 

Supplied ctiaracter generator program allows easy 
creation of colored, animated figures to save and use 
in your own ctiaracter-g rap hies progranns. 

Works in all PMODES. 

Two character sets for maximum clarity produce 12 
character densities. 32 x 16, 42 x 24, 50 x 24, 64 x 24, 
plus double widths in PMODE 4. 

Pre-loader allows optimum loading in 32K or 64K 
machines, The 64Ksefectionautomattcaliy transfers 
all ROM (including cartridge) to RAJVl, Uses 4-5K of 

memory. 



rYES, I want to easily create dazzling displays with the 
best SCREEN Enhancer for my DRAGON 32. Please 
I send me the incredible RAINBOW-WRITER at the ^ 
affordable price of; E19.95on cassette 

£21.95 on disk ci 

Available from Computer Deafers Nationwide 9 
m or direct 
\ from: 



NAME 






I 



Mi©i®MM 




1 

Telephone Credit Card Orders ^B ^ I 

Tel: 0726 3456 OB | 



41 TRURO ROAD, ST. AUSTELL CORNWALL PL25 5JE 





Telephone number 
(All departments) 
01-437 4343 
Editor 

GRAHAM CUNNINGHAM 
Assrs^ant Editor 
ANDREW BRIGGS 
Software Editor 
GRAHAM TAYLOR 
Editorial Secretary 
CLEO CHERRY 

Advertisen^ent l<iAanager 
DAViD LAKE 

Advertisement Executive 
SIMON LANGSTON 

Administration 
THERESA LACY 
Managing Editor 

DUNCAN SCOT 

Pubtishing Director 
JENNY IRELAND 

Subscriptions 
UK £9 for 12 issues 
Overseas EM foe 1 2 i&suas 

ISSN 0265-0177 

Dr&gon User. 12/13 Utile Newport Street. 

London WC£R 3LD. 

US address: c'o Business Press 
Internatiorial, 205 East 42fid Si, New York 
NY 10017 

Published by Sunshine Books. Scot Press 

Ltd. ©SunsfTine Books 1984, 

TypeseHfng by Chesliam Press. Chesham. 

BiicMs. Printed by Eden Frsher (Soiilhend) 

Ltd, Sotjlhencf-on-Sea, Essex. 

Distfibuted by S M. Oisiribuiion. Londori 

SW9, 01 -274 861 1 . Telex: 261 643 

Registered at Ihe Post OHice as a news- 
paper. 

Dragon and its logo are trademarks of 

Dragor> Data Lid. 
How to submit artlcf«s 
The quality of the material we can piibl'ish in 
Dragon User each monlh will, to a very great 
extend, depend on ihe qjaliry of the dis- 
coveries that yoy can make with your Dra- 
gon. The Dragon 32 computeir was laurtched 
on to itie marttet wi«3i a powerful wersion of 
Basic, but with very poor documentation. 

Every one of us who uses a Dragon wUi be 
able to discover new tricks and quirks almost 
every day. To help other Dragon users keep 
up wiiht the speed of tbe development each 
of us must assume that we made the 
discovery first — that means writing it down 
and p:)ssing it on t^^ others. 

Articles which are submitted to Dragcn 
Lfserfor pubtication should riot be more than 
3000 words fong. AJI submissions Should be 
typed. Please leave wide margins and a 
double space between each line Pragrams 
should, whenever poasibfe, t>e computer 
printed on plain white paper and be accom- 
panied by a tape of the program. 

We cannot guarantee 10 return every 
submitted article or program, so please keep 
a copy, if you want to have your program- 
neturned you must include a stamped, 
addressed envelope. 



including this month a professional foul at 
chess Telewriter improvements and addf- 
tions to Connect 4 



News 



a 



All the latest software and hardware to use 
with your Dragon 

Educarlonol software 13 

Mike Harrison picks the dunces and win- 
ners in this review of educational software 
for the Dragon (the cover i [lustration is by 
Stuart Hughes) 

Drogonsnap 21 

If you want to try your harKf at educational 
applications, but don't want to buy any 
software yet, this is the article for you. Ged 
Mead explains how to construct a simple 
maths game 

Tracker 25 

For keyboard athletes — try (his fast- 
paced game which involves keeping ail the 
trains on the tracks for as long as possible 



Tapescan 



If you've ever wanted to know how to 
recover from l-O errors to allow faster tape 
positioning, Pam D'Arcy has the answer 



Interfacing 



43 



All you need to know to build an analogue 
to digital interface for your Dragon — 
including circuit diagrams and illustrations 
of connection methods 



Open nie 



91 



Animation 



29 



An iniroduct(on to graphic animation on the 

Dragon 



Down to business 



31 



Want to wnie your own smail business 
program? Margaret Norman explains how 
using AddffJe as an ej<ample of data 
storage and manipulation 



This month's selection from the best of 
readers' programs — including a chess 
game whicli allows pawn promotion and a 
short routine generaitng random circles of 
all the colours available in high resolution 

Dragon Answers 61 

Help is at hand — fearn how to scroll the 
high resoiutfon screen sideways, use the 
JOYSTK command properly, interface to 
the cassette socket and create delays with 
the TIMER function, along with advice on 
linking to the Sinclair printer 

Competition Corner 66 

A double chance to win a double pnze — 
this month there's two sets ot prizes to be 
won, each consisting of two different ex- 
tension modules. The prizes, from JGB 
Microsystems, are its sound and speech 
extension modules, plus an arcade game 
and utilities program 




FIRST THE BAD news: we ve had to raise the cover price of Dragon User from eop to 
75p. The good news is that the subscription rate (see the card tjound into the back of the 
magazine) is still the same — £8,00 for 12 issues mailed direct to you But from the next 
issue onwards the subschpiion rate will aJso have to go up — to CI 0.00 for 12 issues So 
the message is subscribe now if you want to save £2,00, 

But the savings dont end there, as a look at the contents of this issue will show you 
We ve had a fot of correspondence on educational and business software, so this month 
we've tackled both these subjects. Mike Harrison, a teacher himself, selects the best 
educattonai packages while we offer Ged Mead's Dragonsnap, a simple maths game in 
which two children compete to be the first to spot the answer to sums displayed on the 
screen. To keep things lively there's also a reward — Ged shows you how to incorporate 
an arcade-style game into Dragonsnap so that Ihe winner gets a few minutes of fun On 
the business side Margaret Norman's Addfiie shows you how to write a program which 
any small business will find useful. Understanding how Addfiie works will also enable you 
to reach a better decision if you're considering buying a bigger business package to use 
rn the office. 

And for games players, there s Tracl^er, where you see if you can do British Rail's job 
any better — it's ideal for incorporating into Ged's Dragonsnap. And if you want to 
improve your games programming, take a look a! Dave Wfndle's introduciion to the 
baspcs of animation. More advanced users have Pam D'Arcy s Tapescan to explore — 
thjs machine code program allows recovery from input/ouiput errors giving faster tape 
positioning. And tf it's hardware projects you're after, we show you how to build your own 
analogue to digital interface - complete with circuit diagrams and all the illustrations you 
need fo r t he con n ectio ns. ^r^^ 

This is the variety we aim to offer in every issue ^ although our usual software 
reviewer wrll be back next month looking at the latest games for the Dragon (and 
preparing for a utilities special soon). We thinly Dragon iJseris a good buy even at 7Sp - 
but if you disagree, write and let us know what you think we shouJd be doing 



February 1984 Dragon User 3 



Dragon CJien Club 

{An Independent Club run by GAMES & COMPUTERS) 




^>ECIAL DRAGON 
CHRISTMAS IV^CK AG 

• Dragon 32, with all Leads & Marjual 
*' Dragon Magic' or choice of Books. 
*20 Games on 4 Games Compendiums tapes 
*1 Year's Club Membership. 
*1 Year'sSub. to'Dragonwings'- 
The Dragon' s owf> Cassette Magazfne. 

TOTAL RETAIL VALUE £235. 

OUR PRICE £199-95 '^'"^ ™^^ ^^- 



jld \ik^ to join th» Dragon Users Club 
end enc loss E5 tor 1 Yea r ( Overs«as £B) 

NAWE 



MXTI/O 
CONTROLLER' 

To control your Central Heating, Alarm Si^^tSms, 
Train Set, Robot or anything w filch requires 
accurate timed control of external devices. 



n be controU&d at once. 
On-screen rea(-time Clock in Hrs, Mins Sees 

* Easy to program in BASIC, with 7 New BASIC 
comfDands; CLOCK. CLOCKSET, CLOCKCHK 
SWITCH IN, SWITCHON, SWITCHOFF& MONITOR 

* UseM M/C. Monitor for your M/C. programs. 

* Comprehensive User Manual wrth ej<amples 

K™ " ^''^ ^ Relays & 2 TTL/CMOS lines £39,95 
MXT4 - With 4 Relay Switches . . , €45.95 

Plus90pp. S 0. 

r SpeciaOy dewe loped for t li e D rago n UserB C lu b) 



DRAGON USERS CLUB 

31 North Street, Ware In am, Dorset BH204AD UK 
Telephone: 09295 51 383. Telex: 41 1 1 2 Olytri G 



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telpphone: 09295 51333 
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4 COLOUR 
PRINTER/ 
PLOTTER 

This remarkable printer 
is an ideal complemenit 
to your Dragon. 

(Free'Biorhytbm' 
printout sent on 
request Send Time 
and Date of Birth). 
..OUR PRICE 

£149*95 

inc^ Cable & FREE pA p. 



DRAOONWINGS 
New Magazine 

Ctti Cassette. 6 Usuesa y«9ir. 
£4.95 each or £21 fori year 
including FREE p. A jj. 



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DISK DRIVES 

Coir plete system, witr? lB4k. 
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PROBABLY THE WIDEST RANGE IN THE WORLD. '^^"^^"^^ "'^'^ "^^^T LINES, 



This is the chance to air your views — send your tips, compliments and complaints to Letters 
Page, Dragon User, 12-13 Little Newport Street, London WCaR 3LD. 



Letters 



A rhyme 
in time 

HERE IS a poetical summai^ of 
Dragon User : 
The name is Dragon User 
For the computer that breathes 

fire, 
Filled with ali tl^e articles and 

software 
Ttiat an owner could desire, 

ft even has a problems page 
For newcomers to the sport, 
Interest for every age 
And reviews of gannes where 
aliens are fought. 

As for external contributions, 
Only the best will the Editor use. 
Trv your hand! I expect he would 

like some 
I did! and I know he doesn't 

always refuse. 

Now for the readers' programs 

there's Open File; 
To see your work in print must 

bringasmiiie. 
And for the letters page I say give 

a cheer 
For without it this poet's work 

wouldn't be here. 

Mike Hoe, 
EssB.x. 

Goif ioses 
liandicop 

MAY I, through your magazine, 
contact the many people who 
have written to me concerning my 
Golf program published in the 
July issue of Dragon User. I'm 
afraiid there were one or two bugs 
in my original listing, for which I 
can only apologise and try to 
make amends by detailing the 
cures, 

1 Lrne 9045 had got itself tagged 
on to the end of line 9040.. It 
should of course be entered as a 
separate fine 

2. Line &210siiouJd read ... OR 
PPOINT (BX, BY+1) = 3 THEN 
5190 

3. Line 7590 should read . . . : 
BG = PPOINT (BX, BY+1) 

4 If the bail stops on the edge of 
the hole, it treats the hole as a 
water hazard. This is cured by 
adding line 1065 IFGF = 1 THEN 
1080 

5. The ball may occasionally dis- 
appear when it is in a bunker The 
cure is to amend line 2130 by 
inserting PSET (BX, BY UH) ■ 
PSET(BX, eY+1, LH}; between 



THEN and GOTO 

6. When the ball is on the green 
there are times when it and the 
figure are re-positioned, 
apparently at random. Amend line 
1090 by inserting GF = AND 
between IFandSQR. 

Finally, users without joystichs 
may like to try amending this 
listing. Delete line 1120 to 1150 
inclusive and substitute: 
1120X1 ={PEEK(343) = 223} — 
(PEEK (344} = 223J 
1130 yj - [PEEK(341J = 223) 
— (PEEK(342) = 223) 
1140 IF PEEK (337) - 159 THEN 
XI ^ 5*)(f:VI = 5'Yf 
1260 IF PEEK (345) = 223 THEN 
1600 

1 BIO IF PEEK (345) - 223 THEN 
1730 

The figure will now move in 
response to the cursor control 
keys. Pressirrg the shift key wiif 
increase the distarice moved at 
each step. The backswing is be- 
gun by pressing and holding the 
space bar, and ended by releasing 
it. 

Phil Brookes, 

Leominster. 

Herefordshire. 

Write on 
Microdeal 

HAVING PURCHASED a Dragon 
primarily to use as a word proces- 
sor after seeing an ad for Telewri- 
ter, I was most interested to read 
John Scrivens article "A look at 
the serious side of the Dragon '. 
The feature of missing out odd 
letters, caused apparently in all 
word processing packages by the 
Dragon's way of scanning its 
keyboard, did originafly slow 
down typing considerably, but in 
fairness to Microdeal their latest 
modilication to the Telewriter 
program, only just rssued, has 
improved things spectacularly 
and it is now possible to type 
quite fast. 



One of many eKcellent features 
of Telewriter is the ease with 
which it enables one to access 
characters available on one's 
printer but not on the Dragon's 
keyboard — particularly useful if. 
like me, you have to type a lot of 
stuff in foreign languages with 
accents and cedillas. 

R Hadekel, 
London SW6. 



Hi-res 
input 



IF YOU want to input information 

while using the high resolution 

screens, then try the following- 

100 AS = " " 

110 POKE 135,0 

120 A= P£EK(135):IFA = 

THEN 120 
130 IFA- 13 THEN 150 
140 AS = AS + RIGHTS 

((CHR5(A)),1); GOTO 100 
150 Now proceed With the 

program using the input 

information held in AS 
If a variable is required then 
make 150 A = VAL(A$J 

M Fsciier, 
Maidenfiead. 

Adding to 
Connect 4 

ONE OF the test games you have 
published in your magazine was 
Connect 4 in the October issue. 

f piay it ail the time, but found 
that the coding to ensure that 
there are no obvious moves for 
the computer to cover in a vertical 
direction were missing. 

I remedied this by adding the 
following lines: 

1141 A-F3 

1142 A=A+1:IF A > 6 THEN 
1144 

1143 IF GQ(I,A) = 1 THEN 
SV=SV-»-1: GOTO 1142 



Software Top 10 

1 (2) Mined out Quicksilva 

2 (7) Pettigrew's Diary Shards 

3 H Night Flight Salamander 

4 (5) Ring o1 Darkness Wintersoft 

5 (9) Dragonfly TwQ Hewson Consultants 

6 {-) Gridrunner Salamander 

7 (6) Champion Peaksoft 

8 (-) Lionfieart Peaksoft 

9 (1) Frogger Microdeal 

10 (-) Morocco Grand Prrx Microdeal 

Chart compiled by Boots 



1144 A-Fa 

114& A=A-1 : IF A < 1 THEM 
1147 

1146 JF G0(i,A)=1 THEN 
SV=SV+1 0010 1145 

1147 IF SV > 2 THEN 
T(IJ=T(|)+W5 

1148 IF SV > 3 THEN 
T(I) = T{I) + W6 

This has grieatly improved the 
program and makes the computer 
much harder to beat. 

R Davenport. 
^^^ Cardiff. 

Just not 
cricket 

I HAVE just purchased a Dragon 
32, and with it Dragon Chess 
from Oasis Software — and I 
might add I am very pleased with 
both. But (and there is always a 
but isn't there?) A cannot beat the 
computer. 

AJthough at the moment I do 
not know much about programs I 
do know how to play chess. But 
when I get the computer on the 
run it calls a draw and stops the 
game — which just isn 't cricket (I 
mean chess} is it? I like to finish 
my game even if losing. 

The reason I havft wntten to 
you is to ask if you or any readers 
can come up with something to 
override this decision. 

Maurice Browrt, 

PfSSCOt, 

Merseyside. 
SOUNDS liltG a professional loul 
to us. Either your Dragon it the 
first with artificial intellioente 
— Dr there's a fault in ttie 
software. Try wrtting to Oasis 
Software, Lower North St, Ched- 
dar, Somerset, they shDuld be 
able to help. 

Atari 
interface 

IN RESPONSE to your answer to 
Stephen Wood in your December 
issue, there's no need to send off 
to the us for an fnterface connect- 
ing two Atari-type joysticks to the 
Dragon. 

Cotswold Computers can supp- 
ly such an interlace at £14.95. 
We also suppi/ Wico's Famous 
Red Ball joystick at £24.95 and 
Trackball at £35.95 (Trackball 
does not need an adaptor). 

David Thamtinson, 

Cotswold Computers, 

6 Hfiddte Row. 

Cttipping Norton. 

Oxfordshire. ■ 



February 1984 Dragon User 5 



(-7 



/ 




n a a 



The first basic compiler for 
tiie DRAGON 32 



sprint compiles 3 Subset of 
standard Dragon Basic 
which covers arrays, 
strings, four next loops, in 
fact virtually everything ex- 
cept fioaling point, aritJime' 
lie and associalecf ctxn- 
mands. All antlimetjc is in- 
teger and the Dragon 
sound and graphic com- 
mands are luiJy supported. 




OASIS SOFTWARE Alexandra Parade 
Weston-super-Mare Avon BS23 1QT 

Please send me 

SPRINT Basic Compiler G14,9S □ 

Name , 

Address -,.,,,,,.,..,.,., 



ACCESS orders 

iaken by phone 

24 hours a day - — M34 41 9921 



SPRINT BAS)C COMPILER 

by Dr. David Gray 
FOR THE DRAGON 32 

The Technique used is t]ased on the approach used rn 
U.C.S.D. Pascal where the Basic program is first reduced to 
intermedliate code and this is then exeniuted using a run trme 
package which is saved with the rest of the compiled 
program. 

* Programis *i'll run 5—10 times faster. 

* Almost the entire Basic is supported, witti the exception of 

floating point commands. 

* Code produced will run independently of the compiler (for 
potential* authors!) 

* Programs are cormpilecf from tape under rerriote control so 
that much larger programs can be ccnmpiled. 

* Sprint is designed for ease of use and a comprehensive 

manual \s included. 

* Free demonslration program with each program bought to 
illustrate the full power of the Compiler. 

* All Oasis products are covered by a lifetime Guarantee. 



COMING SOON ■ 

DRAGON PASCAL CI 4. 95 

Dragon PascaJ is an extemdsd integer subset 
of [he sifuctured programmed language 
Pascak A few of il's many features include:— 

* A compi&te set -ot atnictured programmrng 
conslrxKJts 

IF, THEN, ELSE WHILE. .DO CASE. .OF 

* COMPILER, EDITOR and SOURCE 

SJrriult9ne<!uSlv resident tor a rapid 
dewelQpmefli cycJ& and toial ease of jse. 

* Very rapild cormpilalion. Source can aciuaJly 
be compilBd more rapid ly Ihan it can be 
Iiis(ed1 

* Fully recursive, 

* Supplied complete with sample programs 
including routinss. whicn dsmonstrats 
lechnigues lor filmudating floating point 

. fufKtIoflS such as SINE and COSINE. j 



DRAGON 32 SOFTWARE... 





DRAGON CHESS £9.95 



* Six levels of play, 

* All legal chess moves including 
en -passant, cas telling and pawn 
to queen promotion. 

* List of previous moves stored 
which can be displayed or 
printed. 

* Loading and saving of games 
positions from tape. 

* High resolution graphics which 
can be flipped round to make 

black or white play from either 

end, 

* Simultaneous text and graphics. 



* Slides can be e^cchanged at any 
stage. 

* Best move hint 

* Set up from any position. 

* Opening move library. 

* Moves may be taken back and 
play resumed from any point 

* Change level of play at any point 

in the game. 

* Will adjudicate games between 

humans, 

* Very high standard of play. 

* Professional packaging and life- 
time guarantee. 



Dragonchess is without doubt the best value 
chess on the market today. . , . .MICRODEAL 



BACKGAMMON 
£5.95 



OTHELLO 
£5.95 



INVADER CUBE 
£5.96 



DOMINOES 
£5.95 



BACKGAMMON OTHELLO 



trsmr l t m l i rtw ■Ulllf 



Far ■*• DUmOtHf 3t 



INVADER CUBE 

■.■■.■« 




DOMINOES 




Till} wM knowri game of 
iTSickgammon complete with full 
InstructipnB and cofnputer 
d«in»n3tr8tJon for b«glnn«fS, 



At last. Othello or R«vanl as it's 
SDrtietimes known running on 
trour Dragon 32. 2 levels erf play, 
full Instructions and compulef 
defrictngtration for b^^inners. 



Mind Games Compendium 



As wall aft b^ing ona of tli$ is^jl 
g^rnes (rf skill written for the 
Dragon 32 it also ihas tome of 
the b«st p Jre rnachirw code 
graphics w& have evier »Hn, 



Two ^Bfnes m one with full 

inslructkme. Hours of frustrating 

fun this program hqs G levels a1 

play grKl on the higher levels 

adapis it's, play to it's ass^umwit of yow aUllty. 



All five games for just £19.95 



ALL OASIS PRtCES INCLUDE 
VAT AND P&P AND EVERY 
OASIS PRODUCT IS PROMTLV 
DESPATCHED AND INCHJDES A 
LIFETIME GUAHANTEE, 



ACCESS ORDERS 
TAKEN BY PHONE 
24 HOURS A DAY - 



if your locar dealer does not 
stoclc these products tlien let 
us know his address and we 
will (contact Nm. 



B ... a 



■ OASIS SOFTWARE 
I ALEXANDRA PARADE 
WESTON- SU PER-MARE 

AVON BsaataT 

TEL 0634 419921 



0934 419921 



OASIS SOFTWARE 

The Company that specialise in computer 
utilities. 



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Please send me 
DRAGON CHESS 
BACKGAMMON 
OTHELLO 
DOMINOES 
INVADER CUBE 
MIND GAMES 
COMPENDIUM 



£9.95 D 
£5.95 □ 
£5.95 □ 
£5.95 P 
C5.9SL] 

£1 9.95a 



i enclose cheque/PD for £ 
NAME 

ADDRESS .,..., .......„., 



Shards 
oddirions 

NEW games continue to 
emerge from Shards foflowing 
its success wfth Pettigrews 

Diary and Empire. 

The company launched two 
games at the end of last year. 
Hooked and Monster Maths 

At £6-95 Monster Maths 
joins Shards' growing list of 
educational titles, it is a menij- 
driven mathematical cassette 
for 8-1 4 -year-old S- 

Hooked, on the other hand, 
is a fishing game presented in 
hi-res graphics which involves 
catching and landing as many 
fish as you can. 

Cotswold 
comms 

COTSWOLD Computers can 
now supply software linKing 
modems to established 
databases and easing interface 
communications with the out- 
side world. 

Cotswold already markets 
an RS232 interface at £49 50, 
Adding the software, written in 
machine code, will allow Basic 
commands to go straight out 
through the interface. 

The package, including 
documentation and tape, 
costs C10.00, and was de- 
veloped by software engineer 
Tony Richards of Richards 
Systems, 

Tony is also interested In 
writing modem software, 
enabling links to be estab- 
lished to databases else- 
where. One example quoted is 
of linking to the Eurotex Jegal 
database. 

Tony can be contacted by 
wfiting to Cotswold Compu- 
ters, 6 Middle Row, Chipping 
Norton, Oxfordshire, 



rFD w 1PuT£ft ClUS? 




4Er 



fMiS of On/^^l /y i>/£ 



Adventure fun plus 
turtles on the way 



MORE adventures are on their 
way from Salamander — 
along with a Turtle graphics 
package. 

Turtle Graphics costs £9,95 
and will be released a! the end 
of January. It has a compre- 
hensive range of Turtle-type 
commands and a "huge 
manual". 

You can design patterns, 
manipulate images, repeat 
shapes and achieve perspec- 
tive effects by using string 
handliing, The package is 
compatible with the Tandy 
four-colour printer/p letter. 

The two new adventures, 
due at the same time, are 
Wings of War and The Crickle- 
wood Incident. Each costs 
£7.95. 

Wings of War is similar in 
style to the Dan Diamond trilo- 
gy The story- line here is that 
you re parachuted into France 
and have to ffnd your way 
through (he rooms In a 
chateau. 

Crick lewood Incident takes 
a more humorous approach 
to adventuring. You have a 
choice of six rofes to adopt, 
ranging from Absolute Wafly 
to John Travolta, in your 




Salamander's Peler Ohison - having 

search for the graif. 

The game fs based loosely 
on the Monty Python Holy 
Grail film, and has a similar 
sense of humour. Your oppo- 
nents include Hell's Grannies 
and a haii of Fosters lager 
cans, 

Peter Ohison, Salaman- 
der's projects director, said 
that the humour made the 
game particularly attractive. 



fun in Cnckiewood 



"There's not many adventures 
around which are actually 
amusing while you're playing 
them, ' he explained. 

Pari of Peter's work in- 
volves assessing programs 
sent in by Dragon users. 
"Some are worth developing, " 
he says, 'but it would make 
my life a lot easier if I was sent 
a few clues and maps as 
well/' 



Microdeal racks them up 



MICRODEAL went into the 
New Year with more than 50 
software titles under its belt, 
and a range of new releases 
are being planned for this Eas- 
ter. 

The most recent games 
from the company are all 
aimed at arcade fans — with 
the exception of two simula- 
tions, Pinbalf and Eight Ball (a 
version of Pool), 

The arcade titles include 
Space Raiders, which is "a 
much, much iietter version of 
Space Invaders", and two 
games from US author Ken 
Kalish, whose past successes 
include Cuihbert in the Jungle 
and Phantom's Revenge. 

New from him are the 3D 
game Danger Ranger, and 
Devil Assault which has three 
different screens and five 
levels of play, 

Microdeal's list of UK- 



wntten programs is also in- 
creasing, Dave Thatcher, who 

wrote Cuthbert goes Walk- 
about, has contributed Dragon 
Hawk; Rick Redmen has writ- 
ten a neal-time version of Star 
Trek called Space Fighter; 
and SkrambJe, with five dif- 
ferent screens, comes from 
Steve Back, who wrote two 
earlier Cuthbert titles. 

Each game costs £6 00, 
The price goes up to £19 95 
for the more serious programs 
such as recent releases 
Rainbow Writer, Teleforth 
(which includes a tutorial and 
a Forth screen editor) and 
Filmasir (a strangely spelled 
title with a familiar application 
— daiabases). 

Ralnbow Writer is similar in 
concept to the word proces- 
sing package Telewriter. It 
offers lower case, but this time 
for normal Basic, It also en- 



ables yoK to define your own 
alphabet for such things as 

foreign languages. 

Microdeais John Symes 
added that "a lot of other 
programs are on their way for 
the Dragon — probably to- 
wards Easter ". 

The company will have far- 
ger stands at this year's PCW 
and Earls Court shows enabi- 
ing users to try out more 
games — "possibly 30 moni- 
tors at each". 

Berng worked on at the mo- 
ment is a disk adventure with 
graphics, while a Cuthbert fol- 
low-up, Cuthbert In the Mines, 
is planned for February, 

Microdeal is also starting a 
Cuthbert Club. Membership is 
free (entry forms are included 
with each game cassette) and 
entitles you to a quarterly 
newsletter featuring high 
scores, programming tips, etc. 



8 Dragon User February 1964 



E£ A QUALITY LIGHTPEN 



Dfjivi-iriii: 

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Frcchiird. 

hidden atiii. 

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Optimum proj^ram p^.'^fo^mante is achievt'd 
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availahJe fri>m the Da (a pert Lifjhtpeti. 



% 



Also; 

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iilifiiry shiLptis. 



S L P E tt I (J R 
PROGRAMS 

• Tape storage of your wiirk 
9 Good dfict) mentation 

• User routines provided on 
tape and on printout 

• Handbook and three programs on tape 
'A\su ;njiiJLLhlc fur \i\iC B, Vif2n ;md CBM 54; 
pli:iis.L' iilLitt ysHir miero when tirdcriii^. 

Sciut cheque tir PO hn IZ.S lo: 

r>ept DU2 

Datapen Micro technology Limited 
Kingsclere Road^ Overton 
Hants. RG25 3JB 

Or send SAE for details. Now available from good computer 



SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE 

• Insensitive to ;«mhient lighting 

• Responds to different eo lours 

• Pr<igram ueeessible LED hjmp rciidout 
~ Swiieh for pRigram c<mtrol 




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D.SKETTE PROGRAMS FROM E24.95 fNC, VAT - CASSETTE PROGRAMS El 9 95 fwc VAT ^^^^ 

«ST DAT.4BASE ^ ii^v- v*, i 



CflfnpuiBrfsed certf rjidsji filing system. Chposs ymjr awn Mti hsadings - nine in all AOtf 
csrds and de^te eards. So*1 Ihgm. search Ihsm. amsod Wmru, print flnm. vww Ihem. Tctal 
fJEldB. FleJtiOilHy at 1he louch -of a dytton 

MST INVOICES & STATEMENTS 

■Sssing IS believpng. The oowBf of this progrsin is loo great to tie dessi'ibsd m dstBil here II 
Etnres ijp 10 Sfl Customer addresses It prints. supjerG Inuoice and SlBlem^nt fsaofrS A 
separale CREATOR pragfam allowa usm dBlBil? lo Oe adrJed.— and AMENDED. VariatHe 
VAT rate calculations Discoimt caixiladons. Ca'riagg cos1s are atdomaLrcaily mtxirpofaled 
ta produce an accurate AMOUNT OtJE All ihis PLUS usef-delincd footer massage* Evam 
poor Quality prinlBf paper peoduces superb inwoices and sotEments. 

hSt hailer'address book 

TT115 higfily-accla.med deditaled dalahas* prims seHctSd rSngsa of BUflress 4hd othar 
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region. Strean and printer opliflns BnOwse. RBCOfdS etc. A SuuBrtj Utile program. 1,000 
'Beards in all on iive- files 

MSTCALC 

Ttie f^ST-Cat Spreadsheel is etesignsd 10 raplace pai, ti^t/^f ind basic calcul8i1(?r wibh a 

Slaridard Dragon lape recofiJer, TV set ar>d pnnHer. Eacfl program comes with 4 SO-paqfi 

traok'iet descnlMng MST-C^t and its operglion. 

Ttie Spfeadsheet Snatjtes work 10 l>e camad duI en 21 rows and 20 CDlumns. 

Mumbftr^ ralalirq In heaflingiSi eai^ lie orientated tiOfiMrilafly cc varticalPy Th*y car. t» 



addad. murnplnKj, subtracteo. dividsd. formatfiid Btc. ajcross fOws and down Mlumrts 

Tan lei/els 0I tjracket pairs can he used tn eslablish CuSwratar prec«cl&nca m aqoadorks 

HOWS, part-raws. cclNitins. part-Mlumns can t>e sufnrned or aweragsd EqualSQns plac«J *n 

one Iceaitwn can ba repeated (nep|>caied) across raws and dowfi columns 10 save Ivprng-m 

lime. Recalcufatcn pfocsdures ana* powariul WHATIF? projections IB ba carr^d oJat 

the t-tjuch of a buMon. Business data so otHaifted can t>e slorad on tape or disk 

MST STOCK COHTflOL 

CompulefiME) stock contrtK. A^ha rvumanrc nele^rWes. Slo<* des&iplion. user-dilinBd 

stock uftiis, cast sell pncsi. rft-onder lave*s. supplier details. 

1 ,000 ttoc* items on liva IiIbb on a Single-Bided disk. Prriduces slock trvalualion o</9r 

usor-sfllecled range ot.slock. alock IIeIs. ra-ordef feports, sorBen.pnntsr cptioris. 

MST BUSiMeSS accounts 

Anot.«ier ^arri of a program. Whal won'! iiito? iis a more Suifabla question Ihan ■HfM will it da. 

A umquB search lacil-ly enables all data entry problsrns witti a 3i-cMaract«r screen to b^. 

overcome. TriansachOR Lisl, Dablcf c'eOitOr Lisls. Saargh.'Amsnd selactatJ custonitr 

reaanas. ean^ Summary. Vear-fo-dao. IManuaJ Bring Forward Opdnns make Ihis a superb 

program. Credit Cash Mies and purchases ere afl neatly Imkad with Bank AcccNjnt aplion la 

a(taw an up-to-date Slalemani a* your frnanoal status. 

MST hfOME ACCOUNTS 

A loi^ly pr^jgram Jteap (rack of your household btydget. f^ang opiirjns incfuda Estimated 

and Adual budgets. upto-thE-m,nuie bank statements. Currjnt balancs ale Graphical 

neure-sentatiorts of past ancf present monlTis. printni^s Of surplus and deficit omd much 



DOWN TO EARTt^ DISK SOFTWARE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES READV NOW 
USE S TANOARO DR AGONS WITH CUMANA OR DRAGON DRIVES .NO MOOS NEEDED 



MST STOCK (Pfi> STANDARD £S9.95 INC. VAT 

All Slock details are held on nne-sided 'loppy diskehe to produce screen displays and 
prinlBd raparison stock slalus. slock movefnent. Stock shrinkage, dead sloch. stock sales 
Btagk purChasB. ra-ord^r oosls. and much niiora. ReDonU may be rBfer&ric^d by numtier or 
part'dBscnphor-. ar>3 ai^alysis code givai additionel fleiihlilv. ',000 stock ilftms per disk 



hIST-EXEC fPRj SIANDARD C^,S&INC. VAT 

Super InvQcesSlalunjenis lOrmaHer w\h integral rcaiier. A wO--!™ eackane Uw u r^ 
generate setedive Ma.sMo,s, CMStOme, analysis, s^ lyprr^ ^e fSr i^J^o^ arS 
s1^e™n,s, Spcol dKumartls 10 disk, ar« desp^ol (0 poller. aW addresses .^ bT^J^? 



TICK THE APPROPRIATE BOX. PRICES INCIUDE Vkl AND POSTiCE. 

T*PES ti?.9S int. lach 

3 0JslJi«lt ACCDunts 
■-: MST-CALjC 
3 HOmt ,A:Miiirits 
r 0il>4au 



CJ3 DISKS [24.95 inc. «)C<1 
H Malltf 

Zl |ilW4lttS'S1ateinen1$ 
3 SIdiili ContrDl 




PR S«rlig 

n SiKkCsnirtI ^STANDARD ESS .SSIflt 
□ MST6HC ^ SIANDfWD E».*5 iic. 



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CONSU(.TRNTS 



ClHljjgiett. $h«Lld temaill payaDIi tiiMST CCnSULTANTS 

«»iiie: .,,,„ _ ^ 

Addriji; ^^^_^ """ 

CaJd fltimbar.,,. " "siflr'jtuii'" 

_y5Te4]n5utHiitt, HtmUin Raai. Buif^y Tnwyrttc^iw" ifbi J' 9b's"' Teiffplierti' joS j'sj Him 



Cost effective 
business softvirare 
for home cDmpirters 



J 



February 1984 Dragon User 9 



WINDRUSH MICRO SYSTEMS 




MACE 



_ by Graham Trott 

EDITOR 

ASSEMBLER 

£29.95 "^"'^^ 

ORAOON 32 CARTRIDGE 



f'> BD Dag* r»fff(r,cr nanujl descricus nik^i, the nr( 



'If. EPITOR ran 
' in*. 



luj^f nntntnits arf ilac drjcribfd 1n considf ciblc df tji L . 

Insert Hn*C<^ drlptp linptsJ, o*»fl»? a lint, J-^clflK « 
*i:e*nd tc-n ro i >in*, hov» upyiJMjn snf Lint at « t1i~ej find i srMna 
.^^n^i^ ,fr1^, 1 t= 5fr1«^ S, t^,a .1 Tit* (ror, tSPf, ia« j <Uf M tJD*; 
i'lnl (listl Lifiti^ cil! th* *SSEMtfK or the NQNtTOB i^d r#tujT> (« a*ilt, 

■-r *ESERBLEB (51 .... *i„„|jit „ith.j,t 4 lasting to Clltci for ef f firs. 
.■-=*rihlf It. scrrTn, .i«*rblc fg D'Snttr, iiseiftlli to fflp*, aisHftls [„ 

^irjcrjr, 955*^61? tr- Bfnerr nith an ^""t, jstMbli ^jifh j iericd cro« 
rrrr" Ublf iPd n»nv i:oH,U>i^i^i q* thea*. Ti. iissTcicr alio oMvidis 
TtlTUftL *rfar n.„EdK?«a f h^ic. I4titr jirpo-aiwlng m,fjt*E quicfcly, Hht„ jr. 
ori-Jr ir sntaunnt-Kl vl, Cin !NSTANrL>- ctturn to tlKf EDITOft *n(J TU it' flflCF 
-.^i^orct Lnc*l Ipfn? and 9lo|),il L.hffls up lo 8 tli»rjct».ri in liflgtd 



'-■? BOtrlTM cifi 



I'if-w 



rirnDrji, *^apint Brxf thinge iBtnOfy, injfrt i 



l'!*fa(l*r mto » fif^<c af nensfj, .Hi ft Tltt [:H=«t¥nti tf iTcriory Tran oni. 
Ir.c=.ti!:^ rn ^njfitr, tSntl * &p„ □, ,,r,r,j af bftn i« ft,„o,ry, sfUnll^r . 
brranonint, d,=p-a), tl-f i'.«fc(.<1 rssbiftrs, junp lo j uifC pr,gr*B i,-, 
CWrinur fJPf.jnon pf a u=fr rf.>^firt aftfr fnet^jnlcring s iarMfcppinf 4 
riRDl* hmiJfflPiaL calc.j^jioP il alsf! ornvidffd. 

CAfE-= IHTO»fl5Serlg«H^fOM!TCB, llP*nCiN-= a*iir, i B*SXt OPOacdn. anA5t**bLf 
jnqja^c Soufc* crcT-an, ind lachinj ttde pradut*,! b, BICE njy ill nsidt in 
^PKiry [r3".rrli>ppi rou havff IHETANI acifs^ lo jn/ n* them. 



PER! I**!. ronPUTES NfHS 



"EPS Oh* L r(!HPLITJN6 Tl>njlT 



ff E V 1 E M i 

'I «auLd rmjisMpd H*te to Bflyanr uhp nirin to 
ui» the M^CON to l«ftj-n MOfl iiterblif Unsuise 
ar tD urir* SirioiJ* *a3«n*iL)' Lan^ji^* prngrsiiE 

■Thi5 Barkagf hia a vrry offitcisionjl T*fl 
.i^ciiit It . h. ' 




BUG ZAPPER 

MULTI - PROGRAMMER 

£79,95 

DftAGON 32 CARTRIDGE 




Builr-ir SaH n'Otl'JcS full r^ngj ft <:K.nu ariven EPflffl progrinrilnp fariliti*3 
iniUdTg: FILL, l^vi, EJtflHl HE /CHANCE, HEK-ASril (SUMP, :P|; CJlEtKiUM tOP-t 
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^'*'^''\ ''""■■■""*■' ^"=1'"^'- '"tel fS-^iB, ToHE l^Zt, I«t,L JT14, Tt»a! 2i16, 
I^tfl 7nz i-Kl i7?i4, Tfr,ii 25?!^, florftffcfa H£M4S7W;t, |nt*l ??M.^ Trj,s 

TRl-VOLT EPuJflS jrj NDT luOBOftfd! 



2*^64, [nre! JriJE*, ar,i( I^i^l 3T?5fc" 



* Jnirt:; ' Snffl '.j.:r.l Pri^nf nrff^nj ^Icori-hn' (tn) is aMjiSabl* }cr th^t* 
■levl'.rs. Ihiv n1]irithn #rl*bl!l 'hsi* (J(>v*cci to hj* Ol-Cmrannrti in one Sittl- 
nf tvr (or.vH-i-.lifln,nl 1 illf »)[», a Hrrtiin.*if !«iarav?i.»nt i" proqranninj mai-gin. 




D-BUG 



by Stewart Bush 



TRACER 
MONITOR 
DISASSEMBLER 
£29.95 

DRAGON 32 CARTRIDGE 



D-I'gs ■<% i co-ipt*[* to^tKjffr criuUt»ii* at tht hcirn*. Th>( rnibU^ 6-*^ [a 
Tjiintisn (eifplftf ccntFol a1 th» rfil BCftBtW .h^n laiflal i nsT *-ui: t *9«T s OP 
i.'^nfin -rrnr.. sr-, .-n--^,r,l i-rtj. Pfppcr'.y yisij B^UG yiu „afc* uoHlhg uith 
ii-ietblj- larjNjge „■, cniy at B*S[C but a lot ffOf* rB-.iPUinsr 

f>-DU! IE POgFRFUL It 1-i s ppDjrair jnaljiis tool !h*r cijmeines a iinale 

rirp lr*cfr, i <ri Sj,i«r!hlf n, jrj a syft?" ■Wnitpr JU Ifl pnr. It »*»n has iU 

c<p <i*n sn n *ati lot rfrd to s[*il nnt siiKji* brr* of th» cn*£ONi Jft i 

B-PUfi i, FilENBLT tt^ 34 r^P,n*nd5 ire inst,rU^ *^ailat<* through * ™*^u 

>'. iinplify :jit ind -Jininatt iysti-n e'ash*! iBUStd &»■ err.3rs. 

i-BL'6 n IHOIHUlfiH Dijj-Sn? ppfvgraff ! ract it *6Uau= the cmcutioii af 

rfr,rar {C(^S in ,nitfi,{tlan at t t1«i» ujvirr ^o-jp lull cfl^tPOl. As .«,h 
*"•?! Putt inn IB unfilled tfie rontfnts nf ths- 4309 r^gii-ters art (JlSDlaytd 
iCn-g kith a Hitiiaae^titi' of m* instruction ahaut to b? titgwted. 

0-BU5 is tOMPLETE Evprytnt^a l-au ilffd to Anal yn ^nd d*-hu9 5 naihin* 

dP:^^».»"'*'""./"^k*'" *^^'""'* 1'^ '^" «ft*60«i J^ -^nopj, 1i pr«^i^,d -f. pnt 
OP'iyfr^rt flPTi-idgr. b-BUG !la..= not U« thr 1«I ii^Btrutliwi for 1 1 1 [*»Pat1an 
i;- .p 15 nofbl* nf uofki:n^ i,iih prporin cDdc in «Ofl. This iMiqUE feat I; r* 
C'Jbtrs j'PL' r<^ tP«» through th* fltSlC (Kw ca<K and JfB ahat natft x Htk J 

n-eur; is iwossjbui to dcscrit, i.ju>- in thii nmtHi =p«e aa ^t uiu 

'|iv.^ vnj i tufipiftiv nf th» suaiiflbli. ronninds: Sjnjl* srip trjc*; iura't 
('■ecult TLrrrnt EirrrdLit init; ili -i* js wb I »; ',%\ Ir rtaipdint ; %t\ subroutin* 
l»lfti" (OuHlpr; attfP liCgcE 'CC, 'Ji ' , ra'^ 'ipl^ ij(<^ 'f'^ lyi^ ■jf.i ^j^ 
ppairttrj dlaptar tirgft f*gistprs; Bf«ary f >:inin»/(h4nBic;'frrt »'t tndrr: 
'fUry. ■jif. (^«,if>- in KEK jnd SSCll; i*l{ul4lc rtl3tii,e fcranch offsft 
hlofki L-t i^i^r), (fPf;, mi)' ev?rlL*?)j junp H5 Sibrcut inf ; H,|-ii, titu^noi 
^rintfp, T'^^glf (pr^T-ffJ Sunctifn? sitludc; pcHc Output to pfintar: »> 
BflSir BOM rojtirtti nt f„U L,racri;=np np**d; t ra«/dia.*as.rBbl,; OMp rtni 
ff-fP *a<h irnnrBivf; fisnUf p»i!sttrz iftfP rach instrircticn ^.^l^n ir 
-rnre; "fl.,^ lTlh,n*..> ,p.,^,,, ^^^^ ^^^^ .^ Juli:— . racp. 



nEst 

>Pf ■ 

fin 

shift 

E-s ta 

ecuir 

= t*ri 

auto 



6809 FLEX,r„, 

SOFTWARE/ HARDWARE 



E. Bush 
f 



11 CF 

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UTILITICS 

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ENGLAND NR28 9SA. 

TEL: (0692) 405600 



10 Dragon User February 1 984 



Welcome 

to Drogon 

World 

THE Stop Press n&ws letter 
from Dragon Data has grown 
in size and changed its name 
to Dragon World. 

The first issue came out iin 
December, taking over from 
issue 5 of the newsfetter. Sub- 
sequent issues will be pub- 
fi^shed once every two months. 

There's 1 6 pages in Decem- 
bers Dragon World, and Dra- 



gon Data expects the Febru- 
ary issue to be bigger 

The magazine is mailed out 
free to users who have re- 
turned their warranty cards. 

The address for contacting 
the new magazine is Dragon 
World, Dragon Data, Kenfig 
Industrial Estate, Margam, 
Port Talbot, West Glamorgan. 

The contents of the first 
issue are similar to Stop 
Press's — with a machine 
code corner, young user 
pages, readers' letters and a 
selection of programs. 

Additionai features are a 
technical advice column and 
user cJub news. 



ITL ponders 3 inch 
Dragon disk drives 



Pick a printer 
from Tandy 



ITL HOPES to produce an 
interface for its Byte Drive 500 
three inch disk drive which will 
make it compatible with the 
Dragon, despite problems with 
one of the Dragon's interface 
chips which may necessitate a 
retro-fit- 

The 3 inch disk format \s 

said to offer more "bytes per 
pound" than the more com- 
mon SV-s inch type, and may 
well become the small busi- 
ness market leader when a full 
range of applications software 
is available. 

ITL's Tom Boyle com- 
mented thai the potential of 
the Dragon was such that it 

would be unfortunate if the 
technical problems involved 
could not be overcome, 



Then the Byte Drive 500 

could compeie with the iwo 
Dragon disk drives already 
available, from Dragon Data 
and Cumana, Tom expected 
to see three i'nch drives with 
one megabyte capacity being 
avaiiable, 

Wod( on the cable interface 
for the Dragon, which should 
cost around £ 1 00 with the disk 
drive and manuaf, should be- 
gin once ITl, has finished de- 
veloping Sinclair Spectrum 
and Commodore 64 versions, 

A fulf range of software, 
incfucfing assembfer,'dis- 
assemblers, text editors, 
spreadsheets and databases, 
fs now in preparation. ITL also 
hopes to make several popu- 
lar games .available on three 
inch disk. 




Tandy's CGP-220 - $0vein colours 

MORE THAN 10 Dragon- 
corn patibie printers are now 
available from Tandy — rang- 
ing i^n phce from under £100 to 
over £1,000, 

The TP-10 Thermal Printer 
is the cheapest, at E79.95, ft 
prints at 30 characters a 
second on 4y&inch wide ther- 
mal paper which costs £2.99 a 
roll. This is the only printer in 
the range requihng special 
paper. 

The CGP-115 four-colour 
printer plotter at £149 is 
already well-known, More re- 
cent is the CGP-22Q which 
adds another three colours 
(yellow, violet and magentaj 
and Increases the pnnt speed 
to 40 characters a second in 
tej(t mode. 

These printers are said to 
be (deaf tor line listings. Worth 
considering for low end fetter 



for £149 



quality printing is the DMP- 
110 at £299- This is a 9 inch 
dot matrix printer with word 
and data processing modes. 

Print speed is 50 characters 
a second — or 25 for word 
processing. For better quality 
look at the E599 DWP-210 
which prints at 18 characters a 
second. 

Higher up the range is the 
£699 DMP-420 which Tandy 
describes as "excelient for the 
small business user with big 
throughput . The company ex- 
pects the market for such prin- 
ters to rise as the OS-9 oper- 
ating system takes off 

Fanfofd paper up to 15 in- 
ches wide can be used with 
this dot matrix model which 
prints at 140 characters a 
second. 

Top of the range is a daisy- 
wheel model at E1 ,399 



First gomes for the 64 



PHOE^flX Software is one of 
the firs! companies to take 
advantage of the Dragon 64, 
offering a package aimed at 
adventurers and arcade fans 
alike. 

The Emperor Must Die is a 
twin-cassette package re- 
leased this month at C9.99 — 
one cassette features an 
adventure and the other 
arcade action. 

The story line is that the 
emperor of the galaxy is cor- 
rupt and you are chosen to 
assassinate him, assuming 
that you can pass the tests set 
along the way. 

These tests present them- 
sefves in the form of three 




Phosnix's Gerry Rose 

"trips'" to !he action cassette 
(using 22VsK of memory) and 
two to the adventure plus one 
bnef visit (using 48K). 



The Emperor Must Die is 
Phoenix's first offering for the 
64. Previous soft ware from the 
company, set up last year by 
Gerry Rose, also featured the 
twin-cassette concept, but 
was for the 32 only. 

You begin with the action 
cassette, a space game where 
you have to reach a randomly 
arranged sequence ot control 
towers on different planets. 

Reaching a third tower 
gives you the running code for 
the first adventure, set on an 
unknown planet where you 
have to survive against the 
native inhabitants, wild ani- 
mals and an unfriendiy terrain. 

Surviving gives you the 



locations of the first five con- 
trol towers on the action tape 
and the correct order for 
reaching them. 

Doing this successfully 
gives you the running code for 
the second side of the adven- 
ture — in which you recruit 
personnel and buy equipment 
to buiJd a rocket capable of 
defeating the emperor. 

Success here takes you 
back to the second five control 
towers on the action tape, 
collecting dues along the way 
for the third mini -adventure. 
The coup d'etat should then 
follow on the eleventh pfanet 
with your assassination 
attempt proving successful. 



February 1984 Dragon User 11 



Just the thing for 
these long winter 

nights 



DRA(;ON 32 

FAMr[,vi'i«K;K\M,s 

n.iWAINDGAMKS 

IJV^:\^DL^;AK\ 

KMfMKE 
t'lKKI.KH 



Kipdl ^ttHirs. ()i,iij:n-s, iililitir- 
uiifi riliiruli-rpilu) | >r ■ (ji^l'uril >> , , , 
-\ ■'Hint|H"iiilii,im<tt I I'D punif'^ fitr 

v'lll>I|u dPIlf l||[{ .... 

J i V fii i MM r i I riia 1 1 1 ri iiCPii m s fnr t^iH ' 
Hpiiirr rkiiM and cidijll . . . , - - 
M ix»i le I'l >mni;»)ijJ Hrru^tr jcunir 
UiHCit jiiv.-^lirkl ......,,,. 

K^rj|fnppuni*'4tr?itra1«'):\h)FJill 

iisii'* ,,,,... 

Jijis^w |iiizx)i--i)fi-iii'rdli>r F'fiiir 
pinlin'-h ami muim^ l.^if;- . . 
I<]|iii' y(lk biilvi'iihij-t' I'nrtlw vilmlr 
fiiinil^ 



H \T()LK\R^ 



ortzi*A<:K 



1M-'\>TPVCK 



KHiLi-3ili<pil fnr A- t:f vrundHn. 

Mi*iiii nlriip'o- , , 

.i4K^W!»rrl vftt'uhtilun ijui?. iinil 

Pn-'iK: hiKP 1 1-4 1 1 1 ml ifrii , ( ^fp-ii ill i 11^ 
and alphdlx'l ,,,,,,. 

Lt-jirii vtpiir tiihtc>i4iriil wor<{ 
ri'i'iiciiirioli lltf rui! hn^' , , , , . 



\1(^^sr1■:H >lVlllS(^l>hJ Kjtsitmii.iifMiH.M ><iu .pMi., 

IUmIKKIKi Vvf^J Kitlrrluiitirij:j-rH[pliJ['bilfi.<liiii^' 

jMnH> fcir I HPT 2 players , . , , 



ll!ll**^i*-*] 



,K'W«r\T 






i^iTsQs 



Mi-i^i ^'' * 



■ ofiAoaM 









^**C> 



^ioNSThR^^ 



MATHS 



.^^ M^^r5=?s 



I- UN Vi 



SHARDS SOFTWARE 

Xhe familv favourites 



AvaiJahle from BootH and alt good i^loekists, or by 
senHiiifi! cheque/P,0. to 18*> Kton Roail^ flfonl. 
Essex [CI 2Ug. 



12 Dragon User February 1984 



TIGER I 



WUillMiMltaiitfM 




r 




imt. 00:23 I 



I) 



WW»T IS THE mSSIHG f«BER3^ 



10 



13 



An educated 
look at software 



Mike Harrison picks the educationaf dunces and winners 



answer: 



<EHTER> TD PASS 



pi>i^M^tHWPWPWiHWBHilWHWMiillW^Fiiaw***w^iiW*t*WMiiiilll«ilM^^ 



<CLE»R> TD TERKTNATE 



00 YOU remembGr those heady days 
when you first got your Dragon? How it 
was going to amuse, enthuse and educate 
your lamily. How your finances and home 
management problenis would be a thing of 
the past and children's learning be 
smoothed, 

We If, thJni< on. Jusf how many distres- 
sed maidens have you rescued, froqs 
have you scfuashed and Kfingons zapped"? 
Compare this !o the educational use your 
computer has had. Up to now you've had 
the excuse of lack of appropriate software. 
Is that true now? Every advert seems to 
slip in an educationaf tag so let's see if the 
excuse still holds up. 

Spelling 

Talking Speller, for example, is'an ideal 
program to encourage children to learn 
those school spelling lists. You know, the 
ones they produce from their pocKets far 
the first time over breakfast on the day of 
the test itself. Schools all seem to set 
these tasks but seldom advise on how best 
they should be learnt. Help In the shape of 
this £9 95 Eurosoft tape is at hand. 

The user creates a data file, with careful 
input Controls to ensure a good chance 
that words on the file are in fact spelled 
correctly and then helps the child maKe a 
voice-track on tape for each of the words, 

Children can then test themselves using 
these audio cues in their own accent, at 
their Own speed either immediately or at 
some time later by reloading this data, The 
strerrgth of this program is also shown in 
error handling. It tells the user if hfs 



response is too short or contains too many 
letters and shows children the letters 
they've got in the right places so they can 
immediately make some attempt at correc- 
tion. 

The novelty value of the tape as it 
stands is a strong incentive to learning. 
The added graphics drawing capability in 
the version now on offer makes this a good 
educational progrann. It is not of course 
limited to learning spelling lists. I used (t as 
■a French,''English vocabulary phmer and it 
coufd be used in any circumstances calling 
for the Dragons special ability to transmit 
sounds from tape to TV. 

The Dragon 32 missed out on the 
Department of Industry micros in schools 
scheme, possibly because its text is only in 
capitals. Children's reading is always in 
lower case and although it is possible to 
draw these in high resolution many educa- 
tional programmers have missed this 
point, even when producing material for 
infants. It is ironic therefore that Galactic 
Hangman which is played entirely in hi-res 
still uses capitals drawn on the screen. 
This cassette is also from Eurosoft and 
costs £7.95 

The unfortunate prisoner is saved from 
hanging if you can guess the word. In fact 
a spaceship destroys the whole jail in this 
event but what happens to the other 
inmates we never do find out. Quite good 
fun and in Basic so the data can be 
accessed, but it is scarcely educational. It 
doesn't leach anyone anything. It doesn't 
reinforce spelling or even teach tactics or 
strategy because the language is so full of 



exceptions to contradictory rules. It has no 
role in developing language skills, as 
words need to be taught in the context of 
their meaning, 

Silly Syntax, the third in rtie Eurosoft 
series, does do just that job. Jn Silly Syntax 
the importance of words is highlighted by 
the creation of funny stories much on the 
lines of Consequences, the party game. 
There are a number of basic sfaryli-nes 
with players being asked to provide a 
plural, or adjective or nonsense word 
which is then injected into an appropriate 
part of the story to sometimes hilanous 
effect. 

Many primary school children may have 
come across procedure exercises in 
school where every seventh word or so in 
a story is blanked out and from the context 
he has to supply an appropriate word. 
"Both Sally and John like choco- 
late", might encourage replies like milk, 
hot, Swiss or eating. The basic story can 
be shown with the "gaps'" to be filled in 
Silly Syntax and Ihere is a creative mode 
where children can enter their own work 
which has been stimulated by the game. 
All options can be output to a printer. Silly 
Syntax is £9.95 and 60 further stories 
ranging from Fairy-tales to X-raied (for 
adults only) are available, 

Skills 

Eurosoft's range of educational products 
also include Alps at £14.95 and Melody 
Express at £7.95. Alps is a Cesil compat- 
ible interpreter which allows easy entry 
into assembly language programming ► 



Feboiarv 1984 Dragon User 13 




-).c -m^r^ affend'HAffDWA^^ ^^ run DELTA! 

' il: Ec^sil^ fe xpdnd d bl^ VsoH ><?j M, f^&ga byte 

^^^ON.UME; stooge, -■:■;■: :;.tK'K-;' "' 

*^t v-^ffwof© A V A^ LABLE NOW/-:^? '. ^'^. ^.tV^l 



The 'prli^ ym; Jsed- fs' tH^ 'f:>fi<iey^p^iy^^l 
NO HtDOEN RAI^ upgradecoste..;. >; -.^rt^:^C 
Uses under 21)CDtusje^r - RAM qsDKT^ 0^r^:|^ 

is held in EPROM. ■ ' ''"::^^^c'i&-H 

Enables prt>grammer to eCisily produce n'^^;"|>ii^ 

a pp J i c ati on s Sottwa f e w h i c h au tomatJCd-N- ,. "ip 
starts up and operates Wrth(kitany.'^,i^;g^?^ 




interventionffprn the usj^r^ 



^ftwpi^^AyA{LABt,EN<)V^/;^ ^ .,^,..,-.,- 

P^if^CW^TRlD*^ "- contdins DELIA disk Operating Svstem. User MarxiaT- demofisUQllori dfefcejfe 
bt^tW <■— ^1>«.1A CarttWg*, User Mongol, a single-sided 40-trqc*t tl &qiO drive ply^coblp 

^ ■^m;i-^'ta5iX>EtTA t, tMJi.vith a sinqle-sided flD^track (360K^-drlve,;. :"■ " '"- '' '"'^ ■''- '^ ■' 

EJsicODfft 09 oBsembleFi'd isasiembl«ri!eWltor t int(&&r(tf )*rtU\ DELTA 

HOM E AQCQUNTS f uU fYome pockog e for D€LTi^ ■, , - .. , . .. .. . . .,' ...;■..; .'.• . . ■-■ : :;;. . ..'": .■ , '^.^p ::.;i_^f^,^^y 












^.-^r.r—.-. ,,„.., "^320,0^,; 






,:.i^? 






£-S?-9S 



PHMIEB'S ASTOWISMIHO NIW TOOUtrT FOR THE DRAOON Jl PfBfOflMS THE rouOWINO AMABNO fUMCTlOtB!- 

become bu<ili-lri Qi loon as you plug m t^ 
TOOLKIT canndge 
• V.ARI ft6L E GOTO-'GOSUB C ommandi- fl llowlnfl 
rou lines lo be called by no me Eg GOJUB TITLf 



TOOLKIT 
FOR 
DRAGON 32 



fULL icreer* e^ ilOf ollo*(ng copv'i^O. cuncoten- 

■Sllng-ol linei*te. Fully linked lo ihec DRAGON'S 

line editor. 

Eighf PPOGIiAMIVtABLE KEYS - ■Qllegiily 

ocCBiS*«] uf chvecked. 

25 full colour low-resoiiJliDn gropMCitcreeni 

dirqlloble with c*rflm<5ndi fDf instanlly wriMng lo 

any of ttierrvOf EWOpptnigiiiTiovlng. MAKES 

COLOUfi AKtIMATION AT MACHINE CODE SPECO 

ailrnpie Kan 

Full rafige 61 ElitiOC HANDLING Ci^mmands wllti 

seyeral RESUME ppin?ns. 

OW EB SI3<TV NEW WOftOS luilly Imked to vOui 

DBaGON BASIC - your new commands 



or GOTO FINISH 
» Superb TRACE cpmmandl which Mies top fighl ol 

screen only. inulteoyinggrophlciileKl inlocf 
•■ SEARCH gnd liEPLACE commands. Tor e05»er 

program m.cidiflca1]0fl. 
» Comes complete wilh COMPfiEHENSIVE 40 + 

EWge MA.NLJftL 

AvOlla&le Hn CARTtJlCHSE or DELTA enhflnceffisnl 
loim-at .E29.95inc, 



M% 



m DRAGON Fig FORTH ON DISK FOR DELTA • Executes up to iO times loster than BASIC • Longgage eKtendObJe bv 

user delined words • Words con even be defined using ttie FORTH ossembler tor moKinnLjm speed • BASIC a Fid 
DELTA commands still avaiiobie Irom FORTH • Source code $lored: and con be compiled from disk • FORTH can 
be saved to disk, inclLjding any new deflnilions onu t^w.w including manual + Fig FORiHaioBBary * Modei mg. vat 



SCmeE FOR THE DRAOOH 32 

• fULL UPPER and LOWtB CASE dir#Cl1forTi theteybisafd 

• An enlflfged 42 « 24 strewn Ot^plgv wfllcf fl'«e4 
a 5jp*fb READABLE lexl. 

• fyll 1eKl display ■*". hi-fes-scfsen. 

• AulOfflOlle ijrHderllne and reverse image. 

• Up lo 255 uier-dQFIned graphic^. 

• Preclilon charOCFer posiMon coffirmorK] giving 
super.'su&Ecnprs. 

• B lock cn -wtiile tem display Opl|«n. 

• A new Prl nl & command eirtend Ino ^ ^ 0^ ^^'^^ 
Qlmosl doubling SC'««ri oreo. 



ENCODER 09 FOR THE DRAGON 32 

ENC006R' W - isn Full symbolic ■Oiiembler using 
slandard mnemieinlcSQnd pseude Op'CflOei. Source 
code con be i ntOf:pO*ate<l iriro BASIC progfomj 
Th* monitor iscllDnconlalns commands lo nitow 
memory display. modHicarlor* and incullon. 
MemDrybJoCk hfiOv*. breokpolnt handling, (uH 
d«SOSSemti(y or»d a iuJI edilor ore only o iew Of if* 
mdhv 1*a1ur#s. Ttis most pOw*flul ossemtjler'- 
disassemble(ie<j<ler ovQilpble for Ihe DRAGON 32. 
ftvolloCilQ Q5 elltiet an inr^gral OElTA Itlmenl or in. 
carlrlcJoe 
CarFri d g* i29' flS. Disk - see abov* 



HlPfilNT FOR THE DRAOON 33 

HIPRINT - streen dumper 

- will dump the ervfli'* conlenls. o1 vHuii DRAGON 32- 
high-res sC<*en ro g high rSSOlUllpn prmler. Oan pa 

iji*cl lof design, dljpioy etc . Avaiiatsie of 
piese«i1 for EPSON pr«nler4 onlV- Oihor fftodulsito 
tgllQW ifiorlly '\ 

Tiap* £7 *&. DELTA disk e*«5. 




REmiER 



PRtMIER MICfiCSrSTEMS 

ZOe Croydon Rcod. Anerley^London ${30 TVX 
TalBphon* Cl *Sfl 71 J 1 or TtS 1 7156 
Dealer arvi wxport orders wftleoirvsd. 



IVIICf^«5Y5TEfVIS 



POSTAGE ond PACKING 
Tgpesi -2 96p.il- £125. 
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ALL PRICE* INCLUDE VAT 
Send SAE lOr iuH cofOlogue. 
ALLOW 28 DA^S FOR DELIVEfif. 



■-'■'■'-'■-'■'^''^ 



y/SA 



14 Dragon Us&r February 1984 



CHESHIRE CAT 

EDUCATIONAL SERIES 

from 

AMPALSOFT 



u u 



The 



CHESHIRE CAT 

name in Educational Software 



An exciting range of top quality programs 
covering all needs from pre-school to 'A' level. 

Now available from Boots and other good stores, 

Ampal Computer Services Ltd. 

3t Wood bridge Road, Darby Green, Blackwater, 

Camberley, Surrey. 

Tel: (0252) 876677 



•# for 'O' lever computer science. Melody 
Express provides a simple introduction to 
keyboard skills as an introcfuctory stage to 
musical programming, 

Tjger Software is another company 
which advertises "Educational Software 
— designed by experienced teachers"", 
The Tiger IQ Test is beautifully drawn on 
the hl-res screen and looks for all the world 
Jike the exam paper it's meant to be. The 
test is timed and (a nice touch this) the 
clock only activated when the full page is 
complete and ready lor your answer. 
There is a good variety of questions such 




as: 



WHAT IS THE NEXT NUMBER IN THE 

SERfES 

4 7 11 16 22 — 

WHICH WORD IS THE SUFFIX 

S^ 

PL- 

BL^^( ) 



as well as special questions giving an afl 
round test of Ihis sort of reasoning (for the 
hard-of -thinking the answers are 29 and 

EAT). 

The £7,95 tape contains two 40 question 
tests. At the end ot the test your supposed 
IQ and an indication of your intellectual 
worth are announced. If taken as a bit of 
fun, or even as a practice to give you an 
idea of what to expect in IQ tests (more 
commonly called verbal reasoning lests), 
this program is fine but expensive. After all 
you can get paperbacks at ei ,50 with 
dozens of tests in. Where I take issue with 
Tiger is in its use of the "Educational"" flag 
of convenience — for this it certainly is not. 
An intelligence quotient is calculated with 
reference to a student s age. No request 
for age is made. I refuse to believe that a 
10-year-old and 3D-year-old getting the 
same score on this test have the same IQ. 
Ttger's test says i hey do. In fact we are not 
tofd if this test is for primary children, 15 
year olds or tired executives (all properly 
constructed tests should tiave a target age 
range). 

If you expect to get better at ihese tests 
by cribbing from the answer page you can 
forget that too. For although you can 
compare your list of answers to those of 
Tiger's this is in isolation from the actual 
questions which you cannot recall except 
by taking the test again. Anyway without 
knowing the reason for the "correct" 
answer no learning can take place at all. 

Chitd-proofing 

My final criticism of this tape applies to 
many others too, and concerns child- 
proofing. This means helping the user to- 
show his knowledge and not make mis- 
takes due to the computer's method of 
working. For example in the question 

WHAT fS THE NEXT LETTER 
A C E G — 

a) H b) I c) J 

some children typed in the letter T which is 
correct reasoning but not the answer B 
which was acceptable. It is easy to restrict 



returns on a computer — so why not do it. 

Child-proofing was also lacking on the 
£7.95 Tiger Grand Prix which is a racing 
game for one or two players. The players 
are assigned cars which go around a 
circuit by moves dependent on the throw of 
a dice and the answering of a general 
knowledge question. There are around 
500 different questions in 13 data files 
suitable for five different age ranges from 
seven to adult. Younger players get ques- 
tions including simple maths and spelling, 
and adults need tq know obscure items 
from books of records. As fn the IQ test no 
attempt is made to teach anythirrg and 
although general Knowfedge quizzes may 
be fun, to sell them under the guise of 
"education" is both misleading and poten- 
tial iy harmful' to this market. 

Not much betier is the C9.96 Eduquiz 1 
from Gem Software. This takes the form of 
the TV quiz Winner Takes All, so it does 
have the value of allowing players to back 
their judgement by the size of their bets It 
is well child-proofed but with questions like 
"Who was married to the Monarch whose 
reign began in 1422?" we have perhaps 
gone beyond the age where this is neces- 
sary. At a time when children are learning 
to break state security codes and pull 
down information from thousands of miles 
away, it seems incredible that Ihese pro- 
grams ask obscure and useless facts 
about mountain ranges, long dead rulers 
and lOO-year-old inventions. This program 
even has a mistake. Islambad does not 
exist (the town in Pakistan is Islamabad), 
and San Cristobel is not the capital of 
Cuba either. 

General knowledge 

Perhaps the computer, then, is not the 
best way of testing general knowledge as 
misunderstandings cannot be dealt with 
and multiple choice questions are open to 
guesswork. The type of skill that the 
Dragon 32 is ideal for. however, has been 
exploited very nicely by Gravesend Home 
Computers, in its Teach Type, This C6.95 
program aim-s to have you touch typing in 
10 hours and shows the correct finger for 
each letter as it is introduced. Visual 
representation of accuracy and speed 
encourage you to look at the screen, not 
the keys as you type. Typing is such a 
useful skill for teenagers to have in the 
fields of computers, journalism, further 
education and clerical work that 
Gravesend deserves to succeed with this 
program. Those who are learning already 
may find the absence of home keys a little 
daunting but will be relieved from 
ASDF;LKJ boredom. The Dragon 
keyboard being one of its stronger features 
over its rivals. Teach Type ought to be a 
winner. 

Tick Tock is a courageous attempt by 
the same company to design a program 
suitable to help reinforce time-telling skills 
in young children. A friendly clock (looking 
not a little unlike Ivor the Engine's face) is 
drawn on the screen, and hours, half- 
hours and quarter-hours are displayed for 
children to read, The face rewards you 
with a wink and a smile when right. The 
display is colourful, chunky and appealing 



16 Dragon User February 1 984 




Sums Up from Microdeat 





♦ 



i- **» K'J *-B' f' 



-- t Pt ^ 



'1-1 LJ F"^ 




ifiM ONE 



to children and Ihe hickory dickory dock 
theme aitraciive, 

The program has however, a few flaws. 
The key to successful lime-telling is to 
distinguish between the long and short 
hands and to read the figures clearly. 
Making the hands different colours is not 
good enough (some people use 
monoclnrome TVs) and real clocks have 
hands Ihe same colour.. The eyes and 
mOLth on the clock face are confusing and 
dislraci attention fro nn the real action, One 
eye makes 10 look like 1 8. When the child 
has made a mistake it is not corrected and 
once a key has been hit it cannot be 
backspaced, The mettiod of answering 
requires quarter past two to be entered by 
2, colon, 1 , 5 or its wrong. 

It is quite possible, if the real purpose ol 
the tape is to teach time, for these difficul- 
ties to be overcome by re-programming, 
but essentially what is needed is an 
experimental phase to precede these 
tests. Why not allow children to put m 
some times and then make the clock show 
them? Tests could then be based on what 
the child himself had keyed in previously. 
Lastly children up to six or seven have not 
learnt 6.45 or 5,30 but still talk about 
quarter-to and hall-past. If revamped this 
£5,95 program could possibly be the finest 
of the bunch, and would be in demand in 
infant classrooms as well as at home 

Drowning 

Baby Dragon (£6.95 from Gravesend) 
contains two programs for young children. 
Koko does nothing more than any Dragon 
user could, generating random numbers to 
be multiplied, divided, added and sub- 
tracted. All the action takes place on the 
teitt screen and no one has bothered to 
child- proof it. Letters are bound to b-e 
entered by mistake by young children and 
the consequent REDO? wipes out part ol 
the print (a) graphics. The program has to 
be run again if this happens or if break or 
clear are touched. The object of the 
exercise seems to be to drown poor Koko 
(not very sporting) but when this happens 
the water hses up against gravity to coyer 
him. This is. of course, graphically easier 
than having him fall in but difficult to 
explain to an enquiring six-year-old, 

iVluGh better in presentation is the other 
program Teddy, A number ol honey pots 
seek your help in bouncing past sleeping 
bears who in turn hope to catch some, and 
suddenly sit up to do so. The hi- res 
graphics are very well drawn and the game 
is lots of lun for little children who only 
have to control the jumping by use ot the 
space bar. I would say that three and four 
year olds would learn quite a bit trying to 
decide when to |ump and if a score of 
successful escapes were displayed if 
would be a learning situation. 

Unfortunately no scores are displayed 
for the program is yet another lest, The 
children are supposed to count (he honey 
pots out and count them back in agair> 
(selection for BBC war correspondents?). 
However they won't be able to read the 
(capitals only) questions nor to remember 
to keep adding on the pots to their running 
total to satisfy the examiner. So I'm afraid 



it's thumbs down for Baby Dragon, 

Many people who have recently purch- 
ased their Dragon from a targe department 
store will be familiar with Ampalsoffs 
Cheshire Cat Basic Tutorial . A package for 
younger children in the same series is 
Maths 1. It is a very versatile program. 
Options on difficulty level, display of play- 
ers' scores, changing the running order of 
exercises and the number of different 
questions per e!<ercise all exist. Each of 
the 10 different exercises is introduced by 
a nursery jingle and difficult reading is 
avoided as the programmers assume that 
an adult is around to help oui where 
necessary. 

Kangaroos 

The players names [drawn on hi-res 

screen but unfortunately in capitals) act as 
a prompt for their answers. Only numerical 
answers are accepted and wrong answers 
are carefully shown to be so. The program 
is geared to learning rather than just 
testing and is beautifully designed. Chil- 
dren are asked to count the balls kicked 
into a tube (of Fosters?) by a kangaroo, 
and asked to make numbers of boats float 
into harbour in response to numbers 
shown. Sorting, mapping, sets and simple 
addition are included in Ihese exercises, 
including a lovely one towards the end 
where children have to find the tallest and 
shortest in a line of flowers. 

The package comes with two complete 
tapes (both double recorded) in a large 
plastic folder with some documentation. 
Unfortunately, for security reasons, the 
programs load additional data when run- 
ning so breaking the program means the 
tedious process of reloading. However, 
Maths 1 will certainly give young children a 
good start in practising simple numbers 
before fhey start school and despite its 
£19 95 price it is good value tor money 

Older children need practice in tables 
and numbers loo and Allyn Software has 
two E7.95 programs to provide it. Sums 1 
starts with a menu option for the four rules 
of number and a comprehensive set of 
instructions. The sums are presented in 
hi-res and there is graphic representation 
of score and time left. The slowness of the 
Basic means that keyboard responses 
against the clock become difficult. To enter 
44 the sequence 4, 4, <ENTER> is too 
fast and is registered as 4 <ENTER> and 
marked wrong. Once you slow down and 
get the hang of it you can overcome this. 

By the time Allyn Sollware produced 
Sums 2 il had learned the lesson of lower 
case and presents seven pages of instruc- 
tions in a style most children will be able to 
read. This is ironic as the subject matter — 
manipulation of fractions — is suitable only 
for children five years older than those for 
whom Sums 1 might be useful. Wrong 
answers are erased and the method for 
gaining the right one shown. Perhaps 
future programmers would bear in mind 
that the computer lends itself easily to 
showing addition and subtractions of frac- 
tions in pictures (of cake for example), and 
incorporate this in their programs. 

However, it is a puzzle to me why 
anyone wants children to clog up ► 



February 1964 Dragon User 17 



< their minds with ways for finding % of 
2Va. especiaify when we have machines 
as cheap as calcuiaiors to do it for us. No 
one expects us to do witliout our lawn- 
mowers and learn to cui the grass by 
hand, or to iearn how to rub two sticits 
together to roast the Sunday joint. I've 
been perfectly able to manipulate fractions 
for 25 years but still am waiting for it to be 
put to some use- However, some schools 
do still require pupils to learn these things 
and (f your son or daug titer is having 
difficulty then maybe Sums 2 might be the 
answer- 
Circus 

Of course, there is much to learn about 
corriputers and the way ttiey work apart 
from using them to reinforce sctiool work. 
Circus Adventure (Dragon Data £7,95) 
sets out with the aim of doing just that job 
for primary school age, incorporating a 
number of user inputs "to encourage 
familiarisation with the keyboard" and pre- 
senting the chilcf "with a series of choices 
to be made", The child who is lost some- 
where in the circus has to try to find the 
popcorn stand. Dragon Data adds that 
"the average playing time is between 1 to 
15 minutes", but I couldn't find anyone to 
persevere that long with such a boring 
game, 

An adventure game, of necessity, 
should allow the player to reason out some 
of the moves or at least get the "you're 
getting warmer' vibes. No such luck with 
Circus Adventure. Educationally it is a 
disaster for it expects children lo opt for left 
and right, north or south without giving any 
indication of what such coricepts mean, 
The choices it provides are without con- 
sequence and meaning. It asks do you 
want to go UP or DOWN (presumably 
underground},, and treats UP as a mistake 
for it only wants the first letter. Now every 
Dragon owner Knows that in this case you 
would use a restricted I N KEY S or use a 
LEFT $ routine after input but such subtle- 
ties are beyond Circus Adventure, 

There is no Jogic in the game plan either. 
Starting at the entj'ance and going east 
leads you to the Tigers cage, UP (sus- 
pended?) is the ticket booth; go right, 
down and north and you are back at the 
entrance- The only place this is true is at 
the north pole. Needless to say this pro- 
gram for young children is entirely in text 
capitals 

This game bears no comparison to 
Quest, another Dragon Data adventure. 
Quest has no pretentions to be education- 
al yet the consequences of moving N, E, S 
or W are shown on the map, (t involves 
trading and bargaining, the tactics of build- 
ing up Suitable forces and equipment and 
strategic planning, It has intermediate re- 
wards and is a much better way of intro- 
ducing adventure games and "computer 
tamiiliarity"- So my advice is to leave 
Circus Adventure to the monkeys 

Hide and Seek from the same stable is 
an excellent machine code program writ- 
ten by Applied Systems Knowledge- It 
uses (he full potential of the Dragon's 
graphics capabilities. It consists of a stimu- 
lating series of hide and seek type games 




Shsrds Softwafe's Fun to Lesm — runs So WK and offers five pannes 

of the Kim's Game variety. It firstly familia- 
rises children with the objects to be hid- 
den, encourages matching skills and short 
term memory, and at the end the associa- 
tion ot words with the pictures of the 
objects they represent. Some fmportant 
pre-reading skills are incorporated in this 
superb program which is completely in 
high resolution colour and uses lower case 
letters throughout 

Value 

There are two programs in the package 
taking over five minutes to load, 36 very 
good clear detailed pictures are drawn and 
a small dictionary is supplied to look up 
spellings for the final stage, A very nice 
touch is the use of on-screen symbols to 
prompt the need for the space bar or 
re-entry of a word. You can also return to 
the m^enu at any time during any six 
games. Super value for money at £l 0.95, 

Microdeal's Teletutor at £25 is the most 
expensive of this batch of software. It is 
packaged in a large ring til© with two tapes 
and pages of detailed documentation. 

The first program has similar character- 
istics to Talking Speller (reviewed earlier) 
except that the time for words to be put 
onto tape can be varied from between 
three and 30 seconds per word. Hence 
sentences showing the word in a sentence 
could be spoken. You can also get a 
print-out ol results. In other respects this 
version is not as good as Eurosoft's You 
get only one chance at each input 
(although you can alter words when list 
has been completed): ail answers are 
accepted and incorrect ones are listed 







Infant Pack trofn Shards Softw0r& 

against the true versions at the end of the 
test. 

Word Drill consists of a series of multiple 
choice questions in which students are 
asked to find a word to match definitions. 
The words and definitions may be added 
and a data file created or taken from a 
demo file provided with the package. You 
could of course use this to test yourself on 
chemical formulae or make up a geo- 



ie Dragon User February 1964 






ON THE IllALL 



K>.» *-M ^ i 



graphical quiz — nnuch in the same way 

thai writing questions on one side of a card 
and tine answer on the other is used as an 
aid for exam iearning. Aii tiie words and 
their definitions can appear on the tejtl 
screen on command, 

Maths Driii allows the digits in answers 
to computations to be entered right to left 
as in pencil and paper exercises, in iong 
muitiplication questions, partiai answers 



can be entered to build up the sum — but 
when wrong no attempt is made to anaiyse 
why a wrong answer has been reached. In 

fact when the correct product is printed the 
ligures do not appear in the right columns, 
A ludicrous reward is offered, it is a 
glimpse at a hi- res face consisting of a 
circle line and two dots, the sort of thing 
you will have first drawn on the hi-res 
screen when iearning. 

The fourth program is Estimate which 
asks a difficult sum and then tells you how 
tar out your guess was. 

This set of programs was put together 
by Tom Mix. the Donkey King man and 
goes to show just how tar behind edu^- 
tionai software is compared to games. 
None of the ingenuity which goes to make 
up an arcade game (a variety of screens, 
come-again motivation, fast action and 
simple aims) is present in this package, it 
is just dull and staie drill and practice. In 
fact it is the opposite to what people in 
education and computing hope for from 
professional programmers At this price it 
is exorbitant. 

Micro Debug Consultancys Tables 
Tutor at £4.95 follows the same pattern of 
random number generation that we have 
seen before. It is child-proofed in as much 
that the break key has been disabled but 
your answers can be letters or spurious 
symbols and these are accepted. In all this 
is an unenterprising program, children 
would soon find it boring and it wasn't quite 
quick enough at displaying question after 
question to be a real test of tables and skill. 

Shards Software has four educrational 
programs ranging from E3-95 to £6.95. 
Infant Pack purports to teach simple count- 
ing and letter recognition skills. In the first 
program 10 dull looking, unevenly spaced 
green bottles appear on the screen and 
are removed one at a time to the accom- 
paniment of that wretched tune. You are 
then asked 10 times how many bottles 
remain on the screen {written in capitals), 
the number being from 1 to 9. The reward 
for reaching 10 correct answers is much 
like a nightmare, the screen fining with- 
lines which seem to fill into a murky brown. 
The reward is best avoided- 

On the block 

The second program. Alphabet is by far 
the most appalling educational program I 
have ever come across. It is supposed to 
teach letter recognition but draws unrecog- 
nisable blocked shapes on the screen 
purporting to be words. The letters drawn 
on the screen do not join up at the bottom, 
the middle prong on capital E is three 
times as thick as any other, and peculiar 
square shapes appear in the middle of 
blocked letters The words themselves 
have very uneven spaces between their 
constituent letters and the pictures drawn 
on the screen to exemplify the words are 
little short of pathetic To cap it all the test 
at the end doesn't deal with letter recogni- 
tion at all but asks questions on 
alphabetical order, it would do the credibii- 
ity of Shards as a publisher of serious 
educational software much good if it with- 
drew this tape from the market immediate- 
ly. 



Junior Pack is a better proposition con- 
taining probably the best tables-tester of 
those on review. Vou pi'ay against the 
clock and the questions get harder or 
easier according to your abilities. The 
accompanying program is more dubious in 
worth. It is supposed to encourage word 
recognition skills but the sentences have a 
random element, eg "D*ve is a strange 
man. He is a cook " and leave a lot to be 
desired. 

Fun to Learn runs to 1 9K and is aimed at 
teaching and reinforcing simple skills in an 
attractive and entertaining way. Menu 
driven, the program consists of five games 
dealing with initial counting, anagrams, 
simple adding on, a hang- man type game 
and a series of exercises which encourage 
word-attack skills through codes. This 
forms a useful package and should do well 
at £6.95. 

Compendium 

Live and Learn is a compendium of 
programs suitable for juniors and early 
secondary age children. The first program, 
Graphics takes you step by step through 
Dragon high resolution graphics giving 
examples of each command and using 
them to create a picture on the screen. 
You can advance and recap at your own 
pace. It is disappointing that this is "view 
only " instruction, no interaction is allowed 
It would have been possible to have let the 
student choose such things as the position 
of the drawing, the colour of the screen 
and the size (within limits). This would 
have been more of a learning experience. 

Zoo is a good animal knowledge pro- 
gram. It contains information on 20 anim- 
als and for each one a hi-res map can be 
called on to show its world-wide distribu- 
tion. There is a "guess the animal' quiz 
option — you have to be able to spell the 
names corrediy for the computer to recog- 
nise your answer. 

With Britain the well-drawn map fooled 
me into high expectations but all it had to 
offer in the end was a list of the character- 
istics of countless towns in England, 
Wales and Scotland. It otters a good 
example of the abuse of the sound func- 
tion. Imagine 30 or so pages of tejft and 
each letter accompanied by a piercing 
bleep. I felt I had been dragged around 
Britain by the ears. 

Live and Learn ends with Survivor which 
is an interesting and safer method of 
testing your chances of desert survival 
than the real thing — and Music which 
consists of a simple tutorial followed by 
your chance to do a Vangelis on the 
Dragon keyboard 

So how does your excuse of the lack of 
educational software hold up now? I have 
looked at some awful programs, some 
mediocre and a few good ones. Do any of 
them suit your needs, and how do you 
choose? Any serious educational pub- 
lisher should produce some documenta- 
tion to go with the software. Schools often 
select packages by sending first for this 
literature. They can then make some 
judgement on its value and decide if it suits 
their needs. Perhaps parents with home 
computers should do the same thing. ■ 



February 1984 Dragon User 19 



* DRAGON HARDWARE/SOFTWARE • 



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Teletutor 

Talking Android Attack 

Crazy Painter 

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Invaders Revenge 

Backgammon 

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Keys of Wizard 

Star Jammer 

Dragon Trek 

Chess (Cyrus) 



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20 Dragon User February 1 994 



Putting some 

snap Into 
learning maths 

Ged Mead shows you how you can encourage your children to learn their times tables- and have 

some fun into the bargain 



HOME COMPUTERS can be gr&at fun for 
playing games, but many people buy a 
micro 1o use it, among otfier things, as a 
teaching aid. It is quite a convincing 

reason in tliose early days when yog are 
trying to convince your wife, friends (or 
even yourselff) tliat you have made a 
wort In win ile investment, 

Your micro does have the potential to 
make learning fun lor children, but unfortu- 
nately most of the listings in magazines 
and books are for games. Consequently it 
can be quite difficult to take advantage ot 
this useful feature of your computer with- 
out guidance. This article should help the 
less experienced programmer — it sliows 
how to construct a simple maths game in 
which two children compete to be the first 
to spot the correct answer to sums display- 
ed on the screen. 

Starting . . . 

Type in the lines of the program listed 
with this article in the order they are 
discussed here. To help you, the various 
sections of lines are italicised to show 
when you should add them to your listing. 

Start with tines 40-90 which identify the 
nannes ot the players and give them their 
instructions, Line 90 uses the INKEY$ 
function to keep the instructions on screen 
until the players are ready to move on. As 
soon as CS has a value (that is, when any 
Key is pressed) the program can move on 
to the next line. 

Line 110 generates the sums to be 
answered The variable A will have a value 
between 3 and 12. ''A-RND(10) + 2" can 
be thought of as "pick a number from 1 to 
10, then add 2 to it", so the range will be 
from 3 (ie, 1 +2) to 12 (10+2), Similarly, B 
will vary between 4 and 12, C is the result 
of multiplying A and B, 

To produce an "answer" to tempi our 
young players with, we use the useful 
statement in line 170, which might need a 
little explanation Let us assume^ for exam- 
ple's sake, that A=9 and B=^6, in which 
case C will of course be 54. Now if you 
think of "D=RND(3) + (C-2)" as meaning 
"take a number between 1 and 3 (1, 2 or 
3); add the value of C to it (making 55, 56 



or &7 in our example); then take away 2 
from this total" you will see that the three 
possible numbers produced are either 53, 
54 or 55. This will work for any value of C 
that our program generates, producing a 
number which is equal to, one less or one 
more than C itself. 

Line 1 50 now prints the question, 160 
builds in a variable pause and 190 prints 
the "answer offered, together with a 
sound prompt to draw attention to it 

Once the "'answer" is on the screen we 
expect the players to react by pressing a 
key if the correct answer is being shown. 
To keep competitiveness and interest at a 
maximum we will construct our program so 
that if both children press their key then 
both presses will be recorded and suitable 
messages displayed. The quicker child wiK 
still win, but the slower one will also earn 
praise if the right key presses are made. 

To achieve this, we have to adapt the 
INKEYS function to suit our purposes. The 
standard INKEYS statement (eg 
B$=tNKEYS) alone will only record the 
value of the last key pressed — and would 
actually identify the slowest player as the 
winner! So we will employ a string array in 
which we can store the various key press- 
es made. When a key is depressed, its 
value (which should be the letter "A" or 
"L ' if the players have followed their 
instructions) will be stored in the array 
BS(). By this method, the first key press 
can be stored in B$(0} and the second (if 
any) in B$[1). so we can easily evaluate 
who was the fastest 

Enter iines 200-240. Line 200 sets up 
the INKEYS function, and line 210 a 
FOR . NEXT loop which effectively 
scans the keyboard up to 100 times The 
first statement in line 220 introduces the 
string array and means "when a key is 
pressed, store its value in the next sub- 
script of the array B$" . Until a key is 
pressed J wiJl equal 0, so the first key 
press will be stored in B$(0). In order to 
keep the program circling through our 
FOI^ , . . NEXT loop if no key has been 
pressed, we add the second statement in 
220 which reads as "if no letter is yet 
stored in the current subscript of B$() then 



go directly to line 240", from wher« the 
loop will restart. 

If, on the other hand, a key has been 
pressed since the last time the INKEYS 
checked the keyboard then B$(J) will have 
a value (the letter pressed) and will NOT 
equal ""'. (t will therefore ignore the 
IF . . . THEN Statement and drop through 
to line 230. 

If line 230 is reached it must be because 
eS(0) has a vafue stored in it. As this 
subscri<pt is now "occupied" we add 1 to 
the value o1 J so that the next key press 
made can be put into BS(1). The second 
statement in this iine simply ensures that 
once two keys have been pressed the 
program will jump out of the FOR 
. . . NEXT loop, moving the game into the 
next stage, 

Line 250 will only be reached if J=0 (no 
keys pressed during the whole run of the 
FOR - NEXT loop) or J= 1 (only one key 
pressed), If J does equal 1 the program 
jumps to line 300 If J=0 then iiae 2B0 will 
assess whether keys should have been 
pressed or not If the answer offered on 
screen was not the right one the program 
moves to (ine 290, gives a short prompt 
then goes back to line 120 to start the 
sequence again with a new value for D If 
the right answer was displayed (ie, D^^C) 
then iine 270 points out the missed oppor- 
tunity to our two budding mathematicians. 
Line 280 pauses, then sends control back 
to line 100 from where a new series of 
variables are created. 

. . . block 

The next block of lines from 300-450 
cover the permutations when only one key 
has been pressed. Lines 310-370 apply if 
the right answer was displayed and will 
congratulate the quick-witted ptayer who 
pressed, then go to the appropriate sub- 
routines in fines 9S0-940 which keep 
score. If neither "A" nor "L" were pressed 
then this is picked up in line 370 and line 
750 prints a message accordingly, In all 
cases, the program then goes back to lines 
280 and 100 to restart the sequence, 

Lines 400-450 point out the error of his 
ways to a player pressing when he ► 



Feboiary 1984 Dragon User 21 



10 
30 
40 
50 
70 



BY GD MEAD** 



REM **HATHSNAP! 

E=0:F^O 

CLS: PRINTS 70,"££C£ MATHSNAP ' ££££": PRINT; PRINT 

INPUT "FIRST PLAVFJR'S NAME "; A* : INPUT"' SECOND PLAYER'S NAME";L* 

CLS; PRINT: PRINT "WHEN YOU SEE THE CORRECT ANSf^ER" : PRI rJT"TO THE SUM PRINTED ON 

SCREEN": PR INT "PRESS YOUR OWN KEY once ONLY" s PRI NT"AB QUICKLY AS YOU CAN!"iPRINT 

BO PRiNf A*;" - USE THE A KEY";PRINT L#; " - USE THE 'L' KEY" t PRINT: PRINT"THE P 

IRST PLAVER TO SCORE 25" : PR INT"Pa INTS WILL WIN THE ROUND" 

90 PRINT e 449, "PRESS ANY KEY TO START PLAY" i C*^IN*<EY*J IF C*^"" THEN 90 

100 M-'O 

1 1 A=RND M > +2 : B=RND ( 9 > +3 ; C=A*B 

120 FOR J^-0 TO 3:B*tJ)="" :NEXT J;J=vO 

ISO CLS: PR IN 1(^1 2, "scores" i FRIN I @32, A^s PRINra4S^L*i GOSUB 9eO:PRINT:PRlNTSTRING* (3 



134) 



140 
ITjO 

liO 
170 
ISO 



840 



is EOUAL TO "lA; " K":B 



IF E>i=25 OR F; =25 THEN 

PRiNT8l9e,A; " X ";Bi" = " 

FOR K=1T0 RND (500) +3001 NEXT K 

D^RND(3) +(C"2> 

IF DOC THEN M=M-fl:lF M=4 THEW D=^C 

190 PRIMTS263,D; " ??"t SOUND 210,2; PRINT 

200 D*=INKEY* 

210 FOR K=lT0100!B*(J)=iNKEYt 

220 IF B*^J)-""rHEN 240 

230 J-J+lilF J-2 THEN 460 

240 NEXT K 

250 IF J=l THEN 3O0 

260 IF I>^;>C THEN 290 

270 PRINT" MISSED YOUR CHANCE !": SOUND 1 ,4 t PR I NTD; '" 

280 FOR k"l rC 1200; NEXT K:GOTD 100 

290 PRINr@44e, "READY?. , . "sSDUND 160, 4: GOTO 120 

300 IF DOC THEN 400 

310 PftlNI^'TlME UP!":SOUND 1 , 4: PRINT"KEY CORRECTLY PRESSED BYj- 

320 IF B*tO)=^"A" THEN PRINT A*s QOSUB930! G0T0280 

340 IF 8tt0> = "L" THEN PRINT Lit : GDSUB940: G0T02B0 

370 GOSUB 7SO;GOT0 2S0 

400 PRINV'NOf YOU SHOULD NPT HAVE PRESSED" 

mo IF B*(0>=*'A" THEN PRINT A*: GQSUB950: (jOT0450 

420 IF Blf(0)="L" THEN PRINT Lf: GOSUB 960;G0T0450 

430 PR I NT "BUT IN ANV CASE. " 

440 SOUND 20,3: PR INI" "WRONG KEY PRESSED" 

4^0 FOR K-1T01000:NEJ(:tK:B0T0290 

460 IF Bit KD < >Bt i 1 ) THEN 520 

470 SOUND 20,5: PR I NT "SAME KEY PRESSED TWICE" 

480 IF BiF{0)="A' THEN PRINT A*: G0SUB940: 0010260 



"< shouldn't; lines 950 and 960 r&duce 
the score, Again, if the key was not "A" or 
'L this is dealt with in line 430^ 

Lines 460-590 come into pJay when Iwo 
keys have been pressed [check bacK to 
line 230 if you are unsure about this). First 
of all we have to discourage Ihe smart Alec 
who might try and gel extra points by 
pressing his own key twice so as (o 
exclude the other player. This is done by 
lines 460 to 490 which rap Ihe scoundrels 
knuckles and then increase the otiier play- 
er s score. Un& 500 only reacts i1 the twice 
pressed key was neilher "A" nor "L". 

Once Ihis has been checked oul. tines 
520-610 son tnrough the contents of BS() 
to decide who was first (the pJayer whose 
letter is found in B$(0)), second {BS(1)), 
and whether any other keys apart from 
allowed ones were pressed. Although lines 
530-610 may seem complex al first, if you 
have stayed with me so lar and under- 
stood how the earlier lines 300-450 did 
their job. you should have little difficulty 
seeing how this section carries ou! its 
tasks 100. Lines 530-560 analyse the first 
press and 580-610 process the second. 

In hnes 630-700 action is taken if both 



players. pressed when they shouldn'l have. 
In ihis case it doesn't really matter who 
pressed first as both players are penalised 
equally, bui as we have the informaiion we 
may as well display it on screen? Lines 660 
and 700 detect if an invalid key was 
pressed 

Loose ends 

Now to tidy up a few loose ends. Line 30 
resets the scores to zero ai start of play, 
Line i20 ensures that the array B$ is 
empty before each new display is made (if 
we didn't do this, late presses made during 
one display might be read as a very fast 
press on the next). Line 140 checks the 
scores and jumps to the "winner" sequ- 
ence if either player has reached 25 
points 

The sections we have covered so tar are 
the backbone ol the program. The remain- 
ing lines add some sound and action. Line 
130 is a simpHe screen display of the 
players' names and scores. Lines 760-790 
POKE a line of asterisks over Player 1's 
name if he scores (or if the other ptayer is 
penalised) and hne 930 updates the score 
on screen. Lines 800-830 do the same for 



the other player. In iines 840-890 the 
winner is announced witli a small fanfare 
and flashing lights. 

Line 160 prevents the game from getting 
hung up on one sum by counting how 
many consecutive wrong answers are 
generated in line 170, It tfien ensures that 
by the fourth display tlie right answer will 
be offered. Line 100 resets this counter to 
zero. 

Depending on the children involved, the 
pleasure of being ttie winner may be 
reward enough — but in my experience 
this won't last long and more enticement 
may be necessary to keep them at it. One 
good way of achieving this is to let the 
winner play a round or two of an arcade- 
type game before the program reverts to 
the question and answer routines. You can 
use any game program wrillen in Basic for 
this [iry Tf&cker. elsewhere in this tssuel 
as explained below. 

Enter tines 900-920. filling in the name 
of the arcade game. The demand for the 
winner's name is really only a bit of 
showmanship for the winner and could 
easily be by-passed. 

Now carry out the following steps: 



22 Dragon User February 1964 



490 
500 
520 

530 

54t:» 

550 
360 
5 BO 
590 
600 
610 
630 
640 
650 
660 
670 
6SO 
69CI 
700 
750 
760 
770 
780 
790 

soo 
sio 

B20 
830 
940 
05O 
8&0 
B70 
890 
S9t:i 
900 



IF BitO>^"L 

S0T0430 

IF DOC THEN ^30 

PR INT "FIRST KEY. PRESSED 

IF B*(0)="A" THEN PRINT 

IF Bf(0)='^L" 

B03US 750 

IF B*<n="A" 

IF B*( 1 >="L ■ 



THEN PRINT L^SBOSUB 930;G0T02S0 



THEN PRINT 



WAS- > 
A*je* 
L#:F- 



E+2:GaSUB 
F+2:GaSUB 



7&0;00T0590 
QOOiSOTOSeO 



THEN 
THEN 



PRINTS3S4 , " SECOND 



PRINT a384,AS:E-E+l:eQSUB 7^0:6070610 
PRlNTS3e4, LJ!iF=F+l:e03UB 8005 0010610 
KEV- . . ":eOTO 370 

PRlNTi&41it, "WAS THE SECOND TO t^RESS" : eOT0280 

PRlNf'YOU ARE BOTH WRQNB" 

IF B*CO)="A" THEN PRINT A*:C50SUe 950;G0T0i^70 

IF B*(0)-"L" TH^H PRINT L^sOOSUB 960;B0T067D 

GOStJB 750 

PRlNr<1384, "AND SECOWD PRESS WAS.." 

IF B*a)^"A" THEN PRINT@41it, A*:BOSUB 950;60TO29O 

IF E*<1>-"L" THEN PRIHTe416, L*!G0SLiB 960seOT0290 

GQSUB 750:GOT02eO 

SOUND 15, 4 1 PR I NT "WRONG KEY PRESSED" : RE FUPN 

FOR Z-DT07 

POKE 1024+Z»42iS0yND 200,2 

HEXl I 

B0SU6 9S0: RETURN 

FOR Z;=0TQ7 

POKE 1055-2,42: SOUND ^00,2 

NEXT I 

GQSUB 990: RETURN 

CLS 3:PRINr<a96, " " 

FOR Z=1T06; SOUND 140,3: PRINT496 , " ££££ A WINNERS 

PRINTi PRINT: PR INT ^^AND THE WIMNER IS ...,":PRINT 

PLAY ^'TieV2S04GL2C03CDl3FCCCFDECC04GL2C" 

IF E>F THEN PRINT A*sWf=A* ELSE PRINT L*iW*=-L* 

FOR K-lT£)700sNE>iT K 

CLS:PRINT"THE WINNER OF THIS ROUND" : PRINT "HAS 
I 



££C£":NEXT Z 



EAPNED A SAME*': PR INT "OF ##*»** 
******** ! "jPRINT-TVPE in "THE WINNER S NAME TO" : PR I NT" START THE GAME - OR TYPE I 
N THE"; PR INT" WORD MATHS' FOR ANOTHER GAME" : PRINT "OF math&nsp": PRIHT 
910 INPUT "NAME " ; K* 

IF X*=W* THEN 1000 ELBE IF X*=*'MATHS" THEN 30 ELSE SOUND 10, 7: SOTO 900 

E-E+3; SDSUB760I RETURN 

F-=F+3:eDSUB 800: RETURN 

E-^E-liGOSLiB QOO: RETURN 

F^F-liGOSUB 760: RETURN , 



920 
930 
940 
950 
960 
990 



PR INTS72 , E: PR INTQ89 , F ; RETURN 



1 CSAVE "Mathsnap" on lo a tape. 

2 CLOAD your chosen arcade game. 

3 RENUM the arcade game, making the 
first line number 1000 — see page 43 
of Dragon handbook. 

4 CSAVE the now renumbered arcade 
game on lape. 

5 CLOAD "Malhsnap" 

6 Use the immediate mode (ie. type in 
these insiruciions di redly wilhout Une 
numbers, [hen press "ENTER"'). The 
quotaiion marks are for clarity only — 
don't type them in. Type "PRINT 
PEEK(£5),PEEKf26)" and then press 
ENTER. 

7 Make a note of the two numbers that 
appear on screen. 

a Type "PRINT PEEK(28)' and ENTER. 
9 lif this lalest number is greater than 1 

then type "POKE 25. PEEK(27} ; 

POKE 26. PEEK(29)-2". Otherwise 

type ■■POKE 25,PEEK(27)-1 : POKE 

26, 256-PEEK(2B)". 

10 CLOAD the renumbered arcade game. 

11 In the immediate mode, type "POKE 
25." and then type in the first number 
from instruction 6. ENTER this. Now 
type 'POKE 26. and the second 



number Irom instruclion 6. ENTER 

this. 
If you have foUowecf the above instructions 
exactly you will have merged ihe two 
programs into one. 

All that remains is for us to add the lines 
Ihaf will ensure that once our winner has 
had ttie allotted period on the arcade game 
the program will return to the maths game. 
This can be done in a number of ways and 
I offer you two. 

Back to maths 

Firstly, find the line in the arcade game 
(it any} that gives the player the choice of 
playing again. Alter this fine to read INPUT 
"ANOTHER GAME (Y N):Z$:IF Z$ = "Y" 
THEN RUN ELSE END". 

Alternatively, use the TIMER function 
and insert an addilionai line in the maths 
program; 

915TIMER=0 
Find a line in your arcade game which is 
often aetioned as the program runs (eg. 
one that updates the score) and insert 
these two statements in it T1 =TfMER : IF 
T1>,7000 THEN 50000. Finally, add new 
line 50000 



500OO CL.S;PRINT "TIME UP":WS : FOR 
K=- 1 TO 1000 ; NEXT : GOTO 30 

ril diosG by ollering some variations. 
Add the following lines: 
1 62 SI = RND(2) . ON Si GOTO 1 64,t70 
164 S2 = RND(3.) : IF S2-1 THEN 
D = C-B :G0TO 180 ELSE1FS2-=2 
THEN D=C ■ B : GOTO 180 ELSE 
D-C iGOTO 190 
which will randomly produce a different 
series of possible "answers". Increase 
display time (reaction time) by increasing 
the number in line 2 1 0. To have a new sum 
generated each display, amend the last 
figure in line 290 from "1£0' to "100". 
Alter display time of screen messages by 
changing the numbers in lines 260 and 
450. 

You have there the makings of a first- 
class competitive maths game — it's over 
to you now to enhance ii with sound and 
colour, animation and variety. Rerviember 
the two key points for a successful chil- 
dren's program — keep it lively and always 
reward a good efforl! 

If you want to contact me, write to 
Thatchover Cottage. School Lane, Middle- 
ton Stoney. Oxon 0X6 eSW. ■ 



February 1984 Dragon User 23 



BEHIND THE SCENES AT PEAKSOFT 



MR.CUOU&H HAS fceEM 
Shut IKJ THCvT ROOM 
RjR OVER A, WE£K 





Wf'VE NOT HEARD A 
WORO FROM HfM SiNCf ' 
HE RtaiVfP THAT 




ME SAYS TME ONLY W^Y 
HE'S iJO^NG TO WIN T}^E 
EUROPEAN CUP ACfl/lV 
/5 WITH,... 



■'THAT Gam E.X HAM PONS' 







l^kl 



WE DESPATCH BV POST UP TO THREE TIMES DAILY. AVERAGE DELAY ON OUR PREMISES JS THREE HOURS. 



ftHtlfr ™^ ^^f^^ THAT ALL 

^^^'^ THE FLAP'S ABOUT! 




rossie 




Totally original arcade action — 
100% machine code 

It's a tough life for Ossie the Osprey — five 
hungry chicks to feed, and those pesky 
poachers keep raiding the nest. Dive for 
your dinner and plaster the poachers! 
Increasing difficulty. Hi-score. Joystick 
optional. £6.95 

PHOTO-FINISH: Superb new horse-race 
action. Terrific graphics, authentic race 
cards, odds based on actual form, REAL 
TIME races from 5f to 2 miles, 'Sporting 
Life' result cards with distances, times, etc, 
and an incredible photo-finish feature. 1-4 
players. £7.95 



£6.95 



A penK/OFT 



? H AWT HO FIN CflCSC£lMT 
UUHTON-OM IKENf 



T*li* youf tMm tnom thv* Fourth CHhf liiem to Hi* 
Europa**^ Cup! FMtuneH fcKjf diviaions, pirOm- 
cJtlen, relegaiiorr, irariaftrt. inJufio», tuspen- 
•ICna, we«ltly rflsullt and tesgg* latiJoa, n- 
Berva Htm. cnewd lroLibl«. #nd all lh» lun, 
drama and lrus( ration <n managing i leagup 
Club. 




LIONHEART CS.45 



Vau'r* the last survivor ana il's a 
long WBV home, Can you Survive the 
minehfrlds, the h^licoplcr gun&ltips 
and itic armed patfOlsV Mho d4r«$. 
winsl 



Unique. iw»-|}art romp. Arcade-slyle action as you assemble yOur^%J^^ 
army, pufsuedi bj^ ihe ruthless Prince John, swftctws to cotouriui graphics adventure as you 1^. 
land m Ihe Hol^ l^nd to mount your Crj&ade against the Suilan Saladin. 

-fc ^ DEATH'S M EAC HOLE E5.45 — The television cnews are assembled al the entrance and your 
£6 9 5 '™"^*' *^^^ ^"■''^ '^^^ ^''^'^ '° ^^^ ^"^- ^^^ ^^ °f t^ nation ste on you I Faea Ihe tenors of a 
*"*'"'*' Mendips pethoie as you lead a mission Qf merey to nescije a party ol frightened cavers The 
realism is. astounding! 



DON'T PAftffC E5.45 — Two Classic actveniures al an incradible price 
Fealufes TrSwers ot Dealh and" Thie Ice Kiogdpfn. Villains and tiazards galore. 

Yes, please rush me ,,. ^ 




RETAILERS: We are reprsgente<J by^ 
tnajcir wholesalers, or you can onJer 
direct -^ leiephone 02B3 44904. 



Name. 



Addfiess. 



24 Dragon User February 1984 




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LlNE-<.l4o,ll0.J,P|ifE&Er 
I la J , P:st I LlWt-. J •6'i, Ibii ,'. P-^jE f 



THIS NEW game for the Dragon is written 
entirely in Basic but it'5 fast enougii to 
outpace the best qwerty keyboard athlete, 
It Is compatible with both colour, and black 
and white televisions, 

Tracker is a game loosely based on a 
railwayman's tracf^er board and evolved 
from a simulation-type program, The track- 
er board maintains the positions, speed of 
trains and the status of the junctions along 
each railway line. Here trains are repre- 
sented by blue dots and the railway lines 
as a grid systerr of yellow tracKs, Your 
objective is to keep all the trains on the 
tracks for as long as possible. 

A train moving towards a junction with a 
break in the track ahead impfies the points 
are set against it and only the skilful use of 
the arrow keys will prevent the pending 
disaster Points are reset by pressing an 
arrow key in the direction you wish the 
train not to travel. For example, there's a 
train moving down the screen with the 
points set against it, you press any arrow 
key other than up to stop a derailment. 

When an arrow key is pressed the 
simple graphic signalman will pull his lever 
and the points reset, But just to make life 
difficult, each time one set of points are 
changed, alf the others change in a sinnilar 
manner. There are two concessions, 
though, trains may overtake and pass from 
opposite directions, I didn't want to make 
the game totally impossible, 

A record of time, in approximate 
seconds, is kept and constantly updated 
on the screen as well as the current best 
time {labelled BT). 

The program begins with a colourful 
Tracker logo display followed by a brief 
teKt of instructions. The user is requested 
to select between two and six trains or opt 
for the demonstration mode, f suggest you 
select two trains at first until you are 
familiar with the method of resetting the 
points. In the computer demonstration 
mode the computer plays using five trains 
and never loses track of any of them. ► 



February 1984 Dragon User 25 



■ PbEl ^ 1 1*1 . e, M > ' P8eT< S6.l&9,H>' PSET< 5^ 



H'StK I IS, 120. N ) : PSET< 120 , 1 84. N 



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■^ To end the demon stration mode press 
E at any time. 
The speed-up POKE is usect in line 70. 

but it is not essential, 

Program notes 

Lines 

70 Utiiisation of tine Inigh-speed 

poite, alttiough its use is not 



essential to the game. 

90 Dimensions tine arrays, 

100 A poke to slow down the print- 

ing to screen speed 
110-240 Displays the text of instruc- 
tions, selects number of trains 
or demonstration mode and 
returns screen printing to nor- 
nrtal speed. 



250 Is the end of program routine 

which poKes the computer 
back to normal speed. 

260-290 Sets the high resolution para- 
meters, the background, fore- 
ground colours and draws the 
railway lines- 

310 Initialises the train movement 

variables, 

330 Zeroesthetimervariables, 

350-380 Checks for arrow key use, 

41 0-560 Controls train movements and 
Checks for deraiiments. 

600-750 Resets the junction points and 
makes the signalman pull the 
lever. 

760-860 The derailment routine and 
checks tor and displays a best 
time. 

870-1 1 90 The draw string commands for 
the remainder of the high- 
resolution display. 

1200-1260 Updates the timer and dis- 
plays the time. Should the 
timer exceed 999 it zeroes. 

1270-1370 The Tracker logo display 
routine. 

Program variables 

Y(Z), X(Z) Stores the position of each 

train, 
YI(Z), XI(Z) Stores the direction of move- 
ment of each train. 
C Computer demonstration 

mode flag (0=1 on, C=0 off), 
P, Q, H Timer variables — seconds, 
10 seconds and 100 seconds 
respectrvely, 
S Best time. 

D, D(10) Array for blanking out the 
numbers of the timer and best 
time, 
N Stores the colour for the 

PSETs used in resetting the 
points (1 green, 2 yeliow), 
M Stores the i^nilial random 

points setting and the demon- 
St rat ion mode points resetting. 
E Prevents the computer, in de- 

monstration mode, from reset- 
ting the previous points set- 
ting . 
B$(1)- Stores the draw stnng oom- 
B$(15) mands for the numbers ancf 
text on the high- resolution 
screen. 
It is not necessary to GET a blank part of 
the screen for blanking out displays, 

Masochists should tryf the program after 
activating line 430 by removing the initial 
quote. This will have the effect of prevent- 
ing trains from overtaking or passing from 
opposite directions. When a collision is 
detected processing is transferred to the 
derailment routine. It also effects the de- 
monstration mode since there is no check 
for trains on the same line. The computer 
will now lose trains. 

If you would rather not stay up all night 
typing in the program, I would be happy to 
oblige readers with copies of the program 
on cassette. The cost will be E3 which 
includes cassette, packaging and postage 
or £2 if you forward a blank cassette with 
the postage. Write to N Browne, 19 Kipling 
Road, Hilsea, Portsmouth, Hants. ■ 



26 Dragon User February 1984 



^^" 



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Disk Drive, means DATA ACCESS 
in less than 5 seconds! 

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Disk Drive, fully BBC compatable, 
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Easy animation 



MOST OF THE home mtcros available 
now are capable of some form of anima- 
tion, the Dragon 32 being one of the 
leaders iin the field, On all micros there are 
various ways of achieving animation,, 
although the Dragon has more than most, 
In this article we will concentrate on two 
methods of obtaining movement. 

The simplest way 

The first of these is ihe simplest way 
possible — using the text screen. Although 
wrltien for Dragon 32 machines, this set of 
programs should run on most computers, 
with only slight changes. 

Lei us start by displaying on screen the 
"star" of our epic, 

10 CLS 

20 Y=0 

If we now add the lines 40 Y=Y+ 1 and 
50 GOTO 30 we have a line that flashes 
across the screen. By adding a space 
before the '*" in line 30 we can blank out 
the last '*" and give the illusion of rmove- 
ment (line 30 should now read 30 PRINT 
(uy Y,"*"), AH this happens rather quickly, 
so let us rewrite our program lo slow things 
down. 
10 CLS 

20 FOR Y-1 TO 30 
30 PRIiNT^fJ ¥,"•■■ 
35 F0RK=1 TOlOO:ISlEXTK 
40 NEXTV 

The star's comeback 

Our next problem is to bring our '+' back 

again. This can b-e done with the lines: 
50 FOR Y=30 TO 1 STEP-1 
60 PRINT ((I- Y, "• ■ 
70 NEXTY 
80 GOTOeO 



Dave Windle introduces the 

basics of animation for the 

Dragon and shows just how 

easy it can be 



The program, as It stands, deafs fairly 
well with nnovennent In ttie horizontal 
plane, so how about vertical movement? 
This is quite possible on the TEXT. screen, 
if slightly more complicated. Using our 
original program, altered to read; 
10 CLS 

20 FORY=448TO0 3TEP-32 
30 PRSNTfif ¥,"*'■ 
40 F0RK = 1 TOlOO:NEXTK 
50 NEXTY: GOTO 10 

We have lift-off. However this time, our 

erasing SPACE will not work. So we have 
lo find another means of removing the last 
'•'. Using CLS will work, of course. Try 
changing line 50 to: 50 CLS: NEXT and we 
now have vertical movement. Using CLS is 
not much good, though, if you have any- 
thing else on the screen that you need to 
keep. Add the lines 

5 CLS: PRINT (n 20£,"gone" 

7 FOR K-1 TO 500: NEXT 
35 PRINT (ti 224," BUNK" 
for a demonstration of some of the prob- 
lems. We need then to find another way of 
erasing our ' • '. What we need to do is print 
a space immediately below the NEXT print 
position. In other words in the space 
occupied by our '*' before the current 
cycle of the loop. 

To do this we need to alter our program 
once more: 
10 CLS 

20 FOFl¥=44eTO0STEP-32 
3D PRINTfriY, V 



40 FORK-1 TO 1 00 ME XT K 

50 PRIMTtr^.y." " 

60 FOR K=1 TO 100:NEXTK 

70 NEXTY 

Now we have achieved movement In 
both planes. Let us now finally rewrite the 
program to demonstrate a bit more graphi- 
cally what we have learned. 
10 CLSO:PRINT (N 234, "MIDDLE"; 
20 FOR Y=44S TO STEP-32 
30 PHINT <ft Y/'*";: GOSUB 90 
40 PRINT (a V," ";: GOSUB 90 
50 NEXTY 
eO FORY=0TO3O 
70 PRINT r^ Y," *";:GOSUB 90 
80 NEXT Y: GOTO20 
90 FOR K=1 TO 100:NEXT:RETURM 

As you can see Irom running the pro- 
gram it Is not finished. Using the Informa- 
tion contained in the earlier listings see if 
you can complete the movement aroun^d 
the screen. 

Method No. 2 

Let us now look at another method of 
animation This lime we will use Dragon s 
excellent DRAW command. 

The following program DRAWs a figure 
on the screen, clears it and then DRAWs a 
slightly different figure a few points for- 
ward. The program is quite simple and the 
following notes will help you to understand 
its wordings. 

Program notes 

10-30 Sets MODE and SCREEN, 

40-60 Creates STRINGS TO DRAW 

figures. 
80-310 IWakes SOUND and controls 

ORAWings, 
320 Loops baci( to start, ■ 



5 '**WALKMAN**DAVE*WINDLE*AUG*3 3 

1 PM'JDE:4 , t :SCREEN1 , 1 :PCLS:DTM R 
OC(2S,39) 

2 DIMBLj'\(2y,3 9) 3 Y=l 20 
4 R$="S€U9R2D9R2U9L2U2R2L4U2L1R 
r]2R4D4BL2BD3G5E5Dl 4L3flU6BR3F6L3 " 
30 L* = "S6U9R2n9R2J9L2U2R2L4'J2LtR 
lU2R4J4BL2D3FjH5Dl4L3BlT6PR3n6L3'* 
60 M4 = ''UDR2D9R2U9L2U2R2L4U2L1R1U 
2R4D4BL23D11G6L3R3E6F6L3'' 

70 DRAW"BM220,90"+ L$ 
.3 GOUIJD5, 1 
90 FOR K=1 TO 2 00:NEXT 
1 00 PCLS 

1 t DRAVrBM20 0, 90"+M$ 
11J SOUNDS 0,1 
120 FORK^I TO 2 00:rgi:xT 
liO PCLS 

14 K^AWBMI JO, 90" + R$ 
14 J SOU>nD3,1 

15 FOR K=1 TO 2 0: NEXT 
160 PCLS 



170 DHAW"IiMl60,9 0"+L$ 

17 J SOUNDJO,! 

190 FCiRi.= 1 rO 2 00:KE^T:PCLS 

2 00 DiihV:'* bM 1 4 , 9 0" +*A$ 

2 0j sounds, 1 

2^0 FORit=1Ta2 0a:NEXT!PwLS 

220 URAW"Bin 20, 90"+R$ 

22^ SOLfNJ50,1 

23 F0RK=1T02 00: NEXT: PCLS 

24 DRAW"BM1 CO, 90"+L$ 
245 SOUNDS, 1 

23 FORK=lTO200:KEXT:PCLS 

260 ORAVrBMaO, 90"+^$ 

265 SOU1\TJ5 0, 1 

27 F0RK=1T02 00: NEXT: PCLS 

23 DRAW'BMeO^gO^+R^ 

23 J SOUNDi,1 

2 90 F0R;<=1TD2 00: NEXT: PCLS 

3 00 DRAV " EM4 0,90" +L$ 
3 05 r>OUND5 0,l 

310 FORi<==1T020 0:NEJCr:PCLS 

3 20 GOTO6 



February ^904 Dragon User 29 



Whafs your best source 
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technical questions 
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You also get a dozen easy-to-understand articles every 
month. Games, . , utilities. . , programming technique. . , 
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30 Dragon User February 1984 



Getting down to 
small business 

There's more to the micro than playing games - Margaret Norman explains some of the 
methods and applications of data storage and manipulation 



MOST HOME computer owners bought 
their nnicros in the belief thai they would be 
able not only lo piay games on them, but 
also use them lo keep track of their bank 
accounts, look afie< their files and so on, 
Here is a program which I hope will make it 
easier tor you to do some of these things, 
by showing you hov/ to store and manipu- 
late data. 

This program has been written to hold 
the names of a number of items, further 
brief descriptions (eg the category lo which 
each belongs) and an associated numeric 
value. It can calculate the total numeric 
value of various numbers of different items 
for you. There are several possible ap- 
plicalions for a program like this- it could 
be used to calculate the value ol stock in a 
small shop, by entering the names of items 
stocked and their prices, or even to calcu- 
late Ihe calorie content of a meal, by 
entering names of loods and their calorie 
values. 

File structure 

It could also be used just as a simple file 
for, say, names, addresses and telephone 
numbers — you can just ignore the part of 
the program which performs the calcula- 
tions, or rerrove it by deleting lines 260 
and 5000 to 51 50, changing the number 5 
in lines 270 to 290 to 4, and omitling the- 
number 5000 from line 300. 



The first stage in writing suclri a program 
Is to determine ihe structure of the file to 
be used, the number and type of data 
fields and the maximum number of records 
that can be handled, The number of 
records which can be held in memory at 
once obviously depends on the number of 
fields in each: the more fields, the less 
records you can have. The data is held in 
arrays; here a string array is used for Ihe 
first two fields, and a numeric array for the 
third. It would be possible to hold all the 
data In a string array, using the VAL 
lunction where calculations are to be 
perlorrred, but if it is known that calcula- 
tions will be required it is more efficienl lo 
use one numeric array. 

Alphabetical order 

If you are unsure how many records 
your tile will hold, you can find out by thai 
and error; put a fairly large number in the 
DIM statement at the stad: of the progiram, 
then keep entering data until you get an 
OM error. PRINT N will then give you the 
number of records it took. If you do this, 
remember lo record the data at regular 
intervals so you don't lose it all. 

The records are arranged in alphabetic- 
al order by the sort routine In lines 2050 to 
2120. A very simple sort has been used, 
which will place records In Iheiile fastest if 
they are entered already in alphabetical 



order. For data which is likely to be entered 
in a random order, a more complex sort 
routine, such as a binary sort, would be 
quicker. It would be a sirrple task to 
change the routine so that records are filed 
according to the numeric value rather than 
the name of the item — just change every 
occurrence of AS(X.1} in this section lo 
A(X). 

Deciding options 

Once you have slructured the file, the 
next job is lo decide which options you 
want to hav^e available to the program 
user. Obviously you will need to be able to 
enter new data, to save the data on tape 
and to load it again (there is little point in 
having a file if you cannot also examine 
entries). An option to delele entries is also 
fairly essential — here it has been com- 
bined with the examine data option. If your 
records are fairly long ones it may be 
desirable lo include an option to alter the 
data in individual fields — here, changes 
can only be made by deleting then re- 
entering a complete record. You may also 
want to be able to search for all the records 
containing a given string; use the INSTR 
function for this. 

The option to load an existing file from 
tape is gJven at the beginning of the 
program, as this can only be done at the 
Start. All other options are presented in ► 



10 REM ADDFILE 

20 REM BY MARGAfiET NQRMAM 

30 PCLEAR 1 : CLEAR 1 OOOO 

40 D I E*1 ft * ( 400 :, 2 ) , A C 400 > 

50 CLS4 

60 PR I NT@204," ADDFILE"; 

70 FOR DL^O TO 1000: ME XT 

100 CLS 

llO INPUr"l>G YOU Jy4ISH TO LOAD EXISTING 

120 IF Q*^"V' THEia lOlO 

200 REH tIAIM OPTIONtS 

210 CLS 

220 PR I NT@37, ■OPTIONS AVAILABLE; "; PRINT 

230 PRlNr"Cl^ filDD NEW DATA TO FILE" 

240 PRINT" <2) E)( AM INEZ DELETE DATA IN FILE" 

250 PRINT" (3 > SAVE FILE ON TAPE" 

260 PRINT" (4) CALCULATION" 

270 PRINT " (5> STOP" 

2Q0 PRINT: INPUT'ENFER NO, BETWEEN 1 AND S'jOPT 

290 IF OPT<l OR 0PT>5 THEN 290 

30O ON OPT GOTO 2000,3000,4000,5000,350 

350 CLS! PR rNT^26e , "GOODBYE " : END 

lODO REM LOAD FILE FROM TAPE 

1010 CLS: PRINT-WHEN TAPE IS READY , PRESS 'ENTER ^ 



DATA FILE FROM TAPE";Q* 



INPUT Q-f 



February 1984 Dragon User 31 



I 

/ 




Complete 
control at your fingertips. 

The smooth control of a Voltmace 
DELTA sprung return joystick is now 
available to Dragon owners. Called the 
DELTA 3D it IS a cut down version of our 
DELTA 1 4B handset 
The same robust ball and socket jointed 
joystick but with the keypad blanked off to 
leave a choice of one of three fire buttons, 



I Nylon encased - Steel shafted joysticks with 
ball and socket joint 
Fast Spring return to centre 
Graphite wiper linear potentiometers 

DELTA 3D joystick „„ £10.00 each 

or £ 1 9.50 per pair 
XAHtmace Ltd 

PARK DRIVE, DALDOCK, HERTS, SG7 it 

Tel:(0461)8»44lO 

Callers welcofne at the factory - Monday to Friday 
Made in England. Trade terms available. 




advanced 
sound & graphics 

for the Oregon computer 

mcludif>g mochine code siAxoutiries 

keith & Steven brain 




Dragon book 
from Sunshine 

Advanced Sound & Graphics for the Dragon computer 
by Keiih and St«ven Brain £5 95 
Advanced Sound & Graphics uses a canelullv slructured approach lo 
show you how !o develop routines in your own Dragon programs. 
All tlie major aspects of the sound and graphics capabilities are covered 
in detail and are fuHy illuslral^. The tmok takes you Irom firsl principles 
through to bar charts,- rnaps. 3-D projections, movement, animation, 
direct drawing, screen saving and printing and man^ olher features. 
Complex sound effects are examined in detail including keyboard sound 
synthesis, Ihe graphic display of music and the inieg ration of sound and 
graphics. 

In addition to dealing with th& operation and applications of the BASIC 
comrnands the twoi* explains the internal organisation of the sound and 
graphics facilities, it also shows you how to use machine code routines 
to improve your programs, 

Keith and Steven Brain have already published the besl selling book 
Dragon 32 Games Master. 



oopies of AdvSrced Sotjnd & Grgiphtcs al 



Sunshine 

Please send rre 

E5.$5 each. 

I enctose a chequg.'postal order for E 

payable to Sunshine. 12-13 Liille Mewport StFeet, London WC2R 3LD. 

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Address,,, 



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or ring 01-734 34S4 la order by Access/Maalercard 
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'4 



32 Dragon User February 1984 



1 020 
1030 
1 040 
1 05t:s 
1O60 
1070 
lOSO 
1^000 
2010 
2020 
2030 
2040 
2050 
2060 
2070 

2oeo 

2090 
2100 
2110 
2120 
2130 
2140 
3000 
3010 
3020 
3030 
304O 
;5050 
3060 
3070 
30QO 
3090 
3100 
3110 
3120 
3130 
3140 
3150 
3160 
3170 

3iao 

3190 
3200 
3210 
3220 
3230 
3240 
3250 
3260 

32 70 
32BO 
3290 
3300 

33 iO 
3320 
3330 



OPEN'M" ,£"1 ,"ADDF" 

INFUT £-l,N 
FOR 1=1 TO H 
INPUT £-1 ,A*(I , 1) 

INPUT f:-i,A*a,2) 

INPUT £~l,A<n sNEXT I 

GOTO 200 

REM ADD DATA TO FILE 

IF N=400 Th^EN CLS; PRIN ra265 , "F ILE 

CLS : 1 NPUT " NAME OF 1 TEM " ; A* ( N+ 1 , 1 > 

INFUT "DESCRIPTION"; Af (N+l ,2) 

I NPUT "^ VALUE" ; A (N+1 3 

IF N=0 THEN 2120 

FOR I=N TO 1 STEP -1 

IF A*a + 1 , 1> >-A*<I, 1> THEN 2120 

T*( n-AJ:(I + l , t> :T*(2>-A*t! + 1 ,2) :T=AM + l) 

A* (1 + 1,1) -A* a ,1) !A:f fI + l,2>=A3:(I ,2) sAa+l> 

A*tl-, 1)=T^U ) : Aff I,2>=T#<2) i A(I)-T 

t4En I 

N~N+ 1 

CLSi INPUT"ANY MORE NEW DATA (Y/N)";0? 

IF 0:t^"V' THEN 2010 ELSE 200 

REM EX An INEZ DELETE DATA 

CLS 

PRINT "DO VOU WANTr" 

PRINT" fU THE WHOLE FILE" 

PRINT" (25 A PARTICULAR ENTRV" 

PRINT: I NPiJT" ENTER 1 OR 2";K 

IF Xk>1 and X:>2 TH^f^ 3050 

IF X=l FHEN I-1:GOTO 3140 

REN FIND ENTRY 

CLS: I NPUT "ENTER NAME" jS* 

FOR 1^1 TO N 

IF S*=-Atn,lJ THEN 3140 

NEXT I 

CLS 5 PRINT "THIS ITEM IS NOT IN FILE": FOR DL 



IS FULL": FOR DL=0 TO 1000: NEXT: GOTO 200 



=A(I^ 



TO iOOOi NEXT: GOTO 

" s A ( n 



200 



DL=0 TO 1000: NEXT; GOTO 2QO 



CLSiPRlHrAS( r ^1 ) :PRINT At ( I , 2 > : PR I NT "VALUE: 

F:RINT:PRINr"DO YOU WANT TO;" 

PRINT" tl) DELETE THIS ENTRY" 

PRINr^''.2) EXAMINE NEXT ENTRY" 

PRINT" (3> SELECT NEW OPTION" 

PRINT: INPUT "ENTER 1,2 OR 3"sY 

IF Y<1 OR y>3 THEN 3190 

ON Y GOTO 3240,3220,200 

IF I'-.n 7 HEN I"I+ls60T0 3140 

CLS:PRINns265,"END OF FILE": FOR 

REN DELETE ENTRY 

IF I=M THEN 3260 

FOR J^I TO (N-1 > 

AI^^J, 1>=^A*<J + 1 , 1) :A*(J,2}=Alf CJ + 1 ,2):A(J)=A(J + l)iNEXT J 

N=M-] 

CLS: PR INT "ENTRV DELETED" : PRINT 

PR I NT " DO YD U WAN T TO:" 

PRINT" (1> EXAMINE NEXT ENTRY" 

PRINT" <2) SELECT NEW, OPTION" 

PRINT : I NPUT "ENTER 1 OR 2" ; 1 



^ a menu, to which the program returns 
when each task has been completed 

The routines which handle the saving 
and loading of data on tape have been 
Sinn pi if led by making the first eniry in Ihe 
tape file the nurribef of records in the file; 
this means there is no need to use an 
end-of-file marker. The program pauses a I 
the start of these routines (wails for EN- 
TER to be pressed} lo give the user time to 
posiiion Ihe tape and pu! the recorder in 
the correct mode. You could if you wish 
insert a MOTOR ON command to tacilitaie 
the positioning of the tape, 

The section ol (he program which per- 
forms the calculatpons is also very simple. 



You are asked fqr the ngme of an item; the 

appropriate file entry is found, then the 
descnpli'oo and value are printed and you 
are asked for the number of these items., 
The computer then calculates the value of 
thi.s number of items and gives you this 
figure and a running total. If the name you 
have entered is not in the fife you are 
informed of this and asked for another. 
This is important as the filed names are 
only checl<ed for an exact match with the 
word you have entered, so if you spell the 
name differently the appropriate entry will 
not be found, 

All programs involving the use of data 
fifes should be crashproofed as welf as 



possible, to minimnse the risk of data being 
iosit. Every request for input should be 
accompanied by a clear indication of the 
form in which it is required, and followed by 
a check to see that it does talf within the 
required range, especially if it is to tie used 
in an ON , , . GOTO statement. There are 
plenty of examples of how to do this, eg 
lines 260-290 check the selection of an 
option from the main menu, AJI selections 
of options in this program are checked in 
this way, but no checks are made here on 
the actual data in the files. If you are 
writing, say, a financial program where 
typing an extra zero by mistake could 
prove costly, it is obviously worth ► 



February 19B4 Dragon User 33 



SUPERIOR so 



< 



4 



ESHT* 




* EDIT+ is a Full Screen Editor and 
Program mer's TooJ Kit, It's an excellent 
aid for writing programs in BASIC and is 
easy to use for tlie novice as well as the 
experienced programmer, EDIT+ includes 
all the facilities of HI-RES. Up to 23 lines 
of your program are displayed on the 
screen and can be changed by 
overtyping, inserting, or deleting 
characters, Functions include: Find S(nng, 
Change String, Copy Text, Goto Specified 
Line, Scroll Up Down, Append From Tape 
and Enter Baste Command. No Dragon is 
complete without an EDIT+. £34,50 



DASM 




DASM IS a versatile assembler, designed 
especially for ease of use on the DRAGON 
and allows you to assemble machine code 
while still retaining the full use of BASIC, 
Supports all 6809 instructions and modes 
Aflows any length for labels (the first 5 and 
the last characters are used). Full support 
for output to printer. Recommended for the 
beginner. £18,95 



HIRES 




SOURCE 
TAPES 



* Rug the HI-RES cartridge into your 
DRAGON and you will immediately see 
the improvement. The screen displays 24 
rows of 51 characters with proper lower 
case and BASIC works as normal but 
with extra features: Selertable character 
sets [English, French, German, Danish, 
Swedish, Italian, Spanish), SPRITE 
Graphics, Redefinable Characters. 
lmpro\/ed keyboard action with 
autorepeat aflows faster typing. Graphics 
and text can be mixed on the screen. 
Suitable for educational and business 
use. £25,30 

DEMON 




The following programmes contain both 
source and object code. They can be used 
in conjunction wrth 'DASM' or on their own 
as indivfduai programmes. It's a great way 
to build up your software library, Each tape 
represents exceflent vafue at onJy £5 99 
each. 

1. DISASSEMBLER 

2. GAME OF LIFE 

3. HI-RES SCREEN DUMP FOR EPSOM 

4. HI-RES SCREEN DUMP FOR SEIKOSHA 

OASM/DEMON 





A powerful machine code monitor which 
allows you to del^* into the internals of 
your DRAGON as well as helping you to 
debug your machine code programs (and 
BASIC programs using PEEK and POKE), 
Includes: Examine/Change memory, 
Examine/Change registers, Print Screen. 
Set Breakpoints, Test Memorv- An essential 
tooJ for all machine code users. £18.95 



* It has all the features of both DASM and 
DEMON in one package. DEMON is the 
natural-partner to DASM, complementing 
each other perfectly. Write, test and use 
your programmes wjthout the bother of 
reloading. It is extensively featured in the 
new book by Ian Sinclair on Dragon 
Machine Code, It is the ideal combination 
for the machine code user, £30.45 



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34 Dragon User February 19B4 



)FTW\RE 



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'^tft^^-rrCnK,-r.-r^mv^^v4^ f 



Ror HI-RES or EDIT+, draws bar diarts 

dinect to screen and printer. Print module 
for Epson .MX or FX printer included, 
Introductory offer of £14.95 if purchased 
with HI-RES or EDIT £19.95 



• It 




Books and Extras 

Introducing Dragon Machine Code by 

Ian Sinclair £7.95 

Advanced Sound and Graphics £5.95 
The Working Dragon 32 £5,95 

Programming the 6809 Zaks £12,50 
6809 Assembly Language Prog, £12,50 

LeventhaJ 
Postage on books: 5 Op per book except 
Zaks/Leventhai £1 max i mum £1,50 



EXTRAS 




DUST COVER incP&P£2,99 

PRINTER LEAD incP&P £14,95 

MONITOR/SOUND LEAD inc P&P £3,99 

Super ine:<pensive 14 inch Colour 

Monitor with integral sound ideal for 

DRAGON and most 

other a ppl icatio ns only £2 2 5 .00 

DRAGON DISC DRIVE 

complete inc P&P £269.00 

BUSINESS 
SOFTW\RE 




The following MST programs are now 
available for use on cassette with the 
HI-RES 51 by 24 Screen: 
Database, Business Accounts, Stock 
Control, Invoices/Statements. Mailer/ 
Address Book, 

Also available: Home Accounts, MST 
Calc, £19,95 



ICE CONTACT COMPUSENSE (Please add 50p p&p per order) 



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Software Centre, 5?a eromKam Read (0234) 44733 

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Street. Erdinglon (021J 3e4&108 

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Brensal Compiiter^ Lid., 24 Pafk Bow (027?) 2941B8 

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Dragon Dungeon, Millon House, St. John's Street, Ashtwumie 

(0335) 455?9 

First Byte Computers, 10 Main Centre, London Road, Derby 

(0332) 365280 

DORSET 

Games & Cemiwters. ^1 North Street, Wanetiam (09295) 

513B3 

ESSEX 

The Serious Users Software Centfe, At Bolingtwoke & 
Weniey. Nigh Street, ClwImsfOfd (94) &8771 

HAMPSHIRE 

CfKnmertiai £ General Typewriter Co,, 165 Lynchford Roal 

Farn borough (0252 f 540125 

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D.i ComptJiers, 11 Tci*n Squanj, Srevenage (0J38) 65501 

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(0611 7967613 

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(0253) 22340 

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(01) 769 2SS7 

Stirling Micro SlfStefTis Ltd., 241 Baker Street, NW.l 

(01) 486 7671 

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Entield Comniijnications, 135 High Street, Ponders End 

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SCOTLAND 

Livingston Computer Centre. 17 The Mall, Livingston, Weil 

Lr}thHn (05061 36978 

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Computasolve Lid . 8 Central Parade, St. Marks Hill, Sw biton 

101} 390 5135 

Statacom Ltd,, 234 HieiIi Street, SiuMon |01) 661 2266 

SUSSEX 

Ganier, 24 Gloucester Road, erigtilon (0273! 693424 

WALES 

A^erOata Ltd . (at Galiowaj'il 23 Pi«r Street, Atjerystwylti, 

Dyfed (0970) 615522 

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(0922 > 640593 

YORKSHIRE 

Comprite Ltd., Thorite House, LaistBfdyke, Bfadlord 

(02741 658890 

INTEfiHATIONAL 

CANADA 

Cfagon Data {Canada) Ltd., 130 Adelaide Street West, Suite 

1820, T0fiOJ4TO (4161 947 S0Z2 

ISiRAEL 

The Computer (Nachmani Comtgrt} Ltd., 5 Halpern Street. 

TelAviv (031 230648 

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InftHmnasiionssytemer as, Skrppergt. Boks 342, Ojl&w 

(021 5O1OS0 

♦Available at selected branches of Boots, 




COMPUSENSE LIMITED 

6o.n I6'j, J86D Green Lanes, Palmers ureen, 
London N13 4HT 01-882 0681/6935 24hr. 
Telex; 8813271 GECOMSG 

February 1984 Dragon User 35 



3340 

3350 

4000 

4010 

402O 

4030 

4040 

4050 

40iO 

4(:»70 

40S0 

5005 

5O10 

5020 

5030 

5040 

5050 

5 loo 

5110 

5120 

5130 

5140 



IF lOl AMD Z<>2 THEN 3330 
ON 1 GOTO 3220,200 
REM SAVE FILE ON TAPE 

CLS: PRINT "WHEN TAPE IS READy , PRESS ENTER '■*; j INPUT Q* 
OPEN"a",£-l , "ADDF" 
PRINT £^1,N 

FOR I-l TO N 

PRINT £-l,A*n,n =PftINT £-l,A*a,2J 

PRINT £^l,A(n :NEXT I 

CLOSE £-1 

GOTO 200 5000 REM CALCULATION 

T-0:CLS 

INPUT "NAME" ;F* 

FOR I«l TO N 

IF F*=A*a»l) THEN 5100 

NEXT I 

PRINT"THIS ITEM IS NOT IN 

PRINTA* (1,2): PRINT'*yALUE: 



FILE"! GOTO 5130 
" ; A a ) 



1NPUT"NUMBER"^N 

PR INT "TOTAL VALUE: '' ; M»A (I > s T =T+N*A f I) : PRINT "RUNNING TOTAL:" J T 

PRINTS INPUT" ANY MORE ITEMS <Y/Nr';R* 

IF R*="y" THEN 5010 5150 GOTO 200 



< Checking that data lies within certain 
limits or asking for adcfitional confirmation 
of very large items, 

A short program like this, adapted to suit 
your needs, will deal with a wide range of 
minor tasks but obviously it has its limita- 
tions. If your requirements are much more 
complex then it is well worth looking at 
some of the business programs on the 
market. A dear understanding of how this 
program operates, though, should make it 
much easier to get to grips with its big 
brothers. ■ 



Program structure 

Lines 

10-70 initialisation, title 

100-120 load file option 
200-300 mainoptionsmenu 
350 end 

1 000-1 080 load file from tape 
2000-2140 enter new data 
3000-3230 examine data; delete data op- 
tion 
3240-3350 delete data 
4000-4030 save fife on tape 
5000-51 SO calculation 



Variables 
used 

A$[I,1J name of item I 
A${i,a) description of item f 
A(l) value of item I 

DL delay loop counter 

N no, of records on file 

Q$,R$ Y,/N inputs 
OPT,X,Y,Z options selected 
I J loop counters 

S$ search string 

(name of item) 
T total (in calculation) 




of the 




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And no wonder^ it's over 300 pages 
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36 Dragon User February 1984 



Recovering 
from i/o errors 



Pam D'Arcy shows how to sort 

IN PRACTICALLY EVERY issue of any 
computer magazine we commonly reacS 
complaints about Ih© lack of a verify facility 
on the Dragon, I have not worried too 
much about ihis as there are means of 
overcoming it, The lack of a tape catalogue 
facility irritates me although, again, SKIPF 
can be used to check that the tape conieni 
matches one's records. 

My pet outrage is the way that every- 
thing grinds lo a hait on detection of an 1-0 
error. The biggest drawback for me is that 
this thwarts most attempts at cutting down 
on ioading time hy fast- winding tapes to an 
approximate position. Brief encounters on 
a BBC machine show that all blocks within 
their files are numt>ered, the blocks are 
identified as they are passed/loaded and, 
having been informed of an l-O error, you 
are allowed to reposition the tape to 
attempt a re-read of the problem block if it 
occurred during ioading. 



out your tapes with Tapescan 

The Dragon gives you no idea of how far 
you are through the current file, be it one 
being loaded or shipped, so my usual trick 
of "SKIPF" until the tape reaches the start 
of the next file may need to be typed in 
only a few times — or so many times that I 
give up and rewind the whole. Jape back 
and start again anyway! 

Having received the Dragon Data "In- 
formation for Machine Code Users" leaflet 
(and armed with tape layout information in 
CoCo's Technical Reference Manual), I 
set about writing a tape listing program 
with two main gnteria: 

1 . Recovery from l-O errors to allow faster 
tape positioning, 

2. It should be machine coded so that it 
could be permanently resident in the 
Dragon and be used without affecting 
any other program currently loaded 
(notably, Basic'), 

The resulting machine code listing. 



Tapescan, is published with this article. It 
doesn't assist with CLOAD/SKIPF and 
program read write errors in that it is not 
intercepting any of those routines — but it 
is there to assist with checking the tape(s) 
alongside other programs when you may 
be experiencing problems. 

Tapescan can be entered directly using 
the TOPSY program featured in the June 
issue, My initial entry took only about 20 
minutes, including checking out my own 
coding queries. 

Or you can use the Sets can loader 
which Is also published here. 

Brief details of its use and technical 
details now follow. Information on the tape 
file formats can be ascertained from the 
listing. 

Between files, the cassette motor is 
switctied off for approximately three 
seconds. If no key is pressed in this time, 
the run continues; if is pressed, the run 
is terminated. Pressing any other key 
leaves the motor switched off until another 
key is pressed [Q will again quit the 
program), enabling tapes to be changed or 
the screen display to be studied. 

If a read error is detected, the program 
resumes by hunting for a file header block. 
As data blocks containing binaiy informa- 
tion (eg CSAVE, CSAVEt^ files) are stored 
without inter- block gaps, obviously, de- 
pending on where within a file the ► 



1 REM SETSCAN fCJPAM D'ARCY 

2 REM JUNE 19S3 

3 CUEAft2l30, 32093s MADDR=32093:MBY 
TES=4l3i 

4 CLS;PRINT"SETSCAN PftOGf^ftM" 

5 PRlNT:PRlNT"SETSCftN LOADS THE 
TAPESCAM MACHINE CODE PRi3GR 
AM WHICH IS STORED NEXT ON THI 

5 TAPE THEN ALLOWS VDU TO COPY 
BOTH PRQGRftmsON TO ANOTHER TAPE 

6 PRINTjPRINT"eErDRE SAVING THE 
PROGRAMS, A MOTORON OPTION I 
S AVAILABLE TO ENABLt THE RECE 

I VINE TAPE TO BE f^OSTIONFD CORRE 
CTLV BEFORE COMMENCING BftVEQ" 

7 FOP N="i TO 7000 5 NEXT 

B PR I NT! PR TNT "LOAD I NO TAPESCAN" 

9 CLQ ADM "TAPESCAN" 

10 PRINTS PRINT "TAPESCAN LOADED" 

II CLSiPRINT"SETSCAN PROGRAM" 

12 PRINT 

13 PRINT"PRESS Q TO BUlTi H TH M 
OTOROH tlQ PPSJTIGW TAPE PRIDH 

TO SAVING PROGRAMS H ELSE 
AMY OTHERTO COMMENCE SAVES" 

14 K*-INKEV*i, IPK* = ""THEN14 

15 IFK*:-"Q" THEN CLSsEND 

16 IFt *- >"M ■ THEN 22 

17 MOTORON 

IB PRINT! PR I NT "MOTOR IS NOW ON": 
PRINT: PR I NT "PRESS Q TO QUIT PROG 
RAH; ELSE ANV OTHER KEY T 

O HALT MOTOR" 

19 K*=INKEV*t IFK^=s"" THEN 19 

20 MOTORorr 

21 IFK*="D" THEN CLSsEND 

22 CLSsPRINT"SETSCAN PROGRAM" 



Setscan k}^^f- forloadiftg Tapescan 




23 PR I NT J PRINT "PRESS G TO QUIT E 
LSE PUT RECORDER INTO 'RE 
CORD' MODE AND PRESS ANV OTHER T 
O COMMENCE SAVES" 

24 K*=INKEV*:IF K*^" ^'THENS^l 

25 IFK*="GJ" THEN CLSitND 

26 CLE; PRINT "SETSCAN PROGRAM" sP 
R INT: PR INT "SAVING PROGRAMS NOW" 

27 CSftVE"SETSt;AN" 

2S CS A VEM " T APE SCAN " , HA !?DR ,, MA D DR+ 
(MBYTES- i> -fMADDR 

29 PR I NT :PF? I NT "PROGRAMS JUST SAV 
ED" 

30 PR TNT SPRINT "TAKE RECORDER OUT 
MODE" 
VEPIFICATIDN- DF S 

(EUIT PROGRAM Qj 
ELSE ANY 3 " 
K*="" THEN 32 



OP RECORD' 
?1 PRINT: PRINT' 
AVE REQUIRED'^ 
VERIFY Vji 

Z2 Kt==INKEY*! IF 



IFK*-"C!" THEN CLSiEND 

CLSS PRINT "SETSCAN PROGRAM*' 
PR I NT J PR INT" VERIFICATION OF S 
AVES REQUESTED" 

37 PRINT: PR I NT "TAPESCAN WILL NOW 
POSITION TAPE WHE 
MOTOR COME ON: 
PRESS AT THEN C 
THE RESaUlRED VERI 
QUIT TAPESCAN PRO 



31 
34 
35 
36 



BE ENTERED; 
N YOU HEAR THE 



ONCLUSION OF 

FICATIQN TO 

GRAM" 

3S FOR N-1 TO 71300: NEXT 

39 EXEC 

40 PRINT: PRINT'EiACK IN SETSCAN5: 
PRESS Q TO QUI TOR ANY OTHER TO C 
ONTINUE" 

41 K*=INKEV*i 1PK*=""THEN41 

42 IFK*="Q"TH£N CLSiEND 

43 GOTO 11 



Fet^ruary 1984 Dragon User 37 



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enougt) to avoid hsing run over by Mano and Nelson hehifid yuu. then you can think about' 
overtaki ng the car& in f njnt Can yoo make it Ceiore you r car tal Is to places ? Another superb 
Aici'de style pame with animated high resolution colour graphics and sound. Rwjuirss one 
jovstick. 

A very fast action with accelerator, damage report, timer, sin levels oj skill and hall of fame 
SUPPLIED ON CASSETTE , ., Efi.gg 



Wi 



%^ 



3g^mesfar£G.95 

J. Morrison (Micros) Ltd 



Ail orders despsfch^ by return 1st cls$$ post 

Caihrs and Trade enquiries welcome 

AMSilabh from SPECTRUM and other gocid software dealers 




trodactvl. TflfllAta I 



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gnsai guns. Featurei sound, higH scone display. Aseearate instruction MiHil is iOdludad rnahwig tha ganw all «?k)uf. high 
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38 Dragon User February 1984 



Object 
Address code 

7P5D 2B 0"? 

Preset data area, Utts 

7D5F 54 J)l 50 45 



Op 

&RA 



.>7D6e 





53 


JiZ Al 4E 




t^^ 


7Pfc7 


SI> 




"'J^ 


PfograftJ, clear screen 






7D*>9 


Sh 


&0 


LD^ 


MtifilZl 


7D^A 


ae 


04 00 


LDX 


«t«e400 


7DiD 


9F 


8S 


STK 


«83 


7DtF 


A7 


80 


ST A 


,X* 


7I>71 


BC 


Bifi am 


CMPK 


440600 


7P74 


■26 


F9 


BNE 


>7D6F 


SCfieert cleared, dtspiay 


me 




7D76 


30 


BC E6 


LEAK 


>7D5F,( 


7D79 


A^ 


SQ 


LDA 


,K + 


7D7B 


IF 


B=? 


TFR 


ft,B 


7D7D 


84 


7F 


ANDA 


»*7F 


7D7F 


BD 


80 OC 


JSR 


«S00C 


7082 


C4 


80 


ANEB 


MfSO 


7DB4 


27 


F3 


BED 


>7D79 



THiing complete 

7086 3ia SD Bl 77 LeftX >7F01,PC 



7DSfl 9F 7E 
7DBC 20 20 



STX 
BRA 



*7e 

>7DAE 



Motofoff psvse between files of about 3 
seconds to allow ussr to h^H 

7DBE B£ 6.0 SB 



7D91 BD 80 06 
7D94 81 00 
7D<?6 26 06 

7D'?B IB IF 
709A 26 F5 
7D9C 20 10 

Key pressed- halt 

7D=?E 81 51 



LDX #^6000 

JSR «e006 

CMPft ititao 

BNE >7D9E 

LEAX -I31,X 

PWF >7D91 

BFtA >7DAE 

CMPfi «*51 



7Dfl0 26 01 tNE >7DA:J 

E^fHf frorri program requested 

7riA2 39 RTS 

Wait for another key to te pressed before 
proceeding 



7DA? BP Q0 136 


JSR 


*eB06 


7DA6 Bl 00 


CMPfl 


#*00 


7DA8 Z7 F9 


Ben 


.>7Dft3 


Key pressed 






7DAft Bl 51 


CMPft 


«*51 


7DAC 27 F4 


BED 


.JUDAS' 



GeJ frfSf Woc*f of a new run or expected file 
header block (previous= EOF) or recover 
alter read error 



7DAE SD 80 21 JBR 

7DEil AD 9F AO 06 JSR 

7DB5 D6 81 LDB 

7DB7 27 04 BEQ 

Read error occurred 

7DB9 86 7a LDA 

7DPB 20 Ot BRA 

f fwr free read 

7DPD !>*■ 7C LDB 

7DEiF 27 IB SEO 

Wa/ a name block 

7DC1 96 6E LDfi 



$B021 
'[ «A006 ] 
«S1 

>7DBD 

ttS78 

■■>7DC3 

*7C 
•7DD9 

««6E 



Output the error message 

7DC3 34 06 PSHS B,A 



7DC5 


BP 


S0 IB 


JSR 


«8018 


7DCa 


86 


0I> 


LDfi 


#*eD 


7DCfi 


BD 


80 0C 


JSR 


fSBBC 


7DCD 


35 


02 


PULB 


A 


7DCF 


BP 


BB OC 


JSR 


teooc 


7DD2 


3S 


02 


PULS 


A 


7DD4 


17 


01 03 


LBSR 


>7EDA 


7DD7 


20 


B5 


BftfH 


>7DBE 


Process namefile block 






7D09 


96 


OD 


UDfi 


#*0D 


7PPP 


BP 


30 0C 


JSR 


*ee<M: 


Display name of file 







7DDe 9E 7E 
7DE0 C6 08 
7PE2 A6 BB 
7DE4 BD 80 OC 
7DE7 5 A 



LDX *7E 

LDB ttfOB 

LDA , X+ 

JBR tSflOC 
DECB 



BhE 



>7Pe2 



7DE8 26 FB 

£)fsp/ay We type (00= Basic, 01= data, 

02=m!C} 

7 PEA 96 20 LDA **'29 



7PEC 


BP 


B0 


OC 


JSR 


*8eoc 


7DEF 


A6 


84 




LDA 


00, K 


7PF1 


A7 


BP 


01 0B 


STA 


>7F00, PC 



Convert it to an alpha character 

7DF5 SB 42 ftDDA *t»42 

7DF7 81 42 

7DF9 27 as 

7DFB BB 01 

7PFD Ql 44 

7PFF 27 02 

7E01 86 4D 



cnpA 


#*42 


BEQ 


>7Ea3 


APPA 


#*01 


CMPA 


#*44 


BEQ 


>7E03 


LDA 


tt*4D 



7E07 BD aa OC 



JSR 



*800C 



Display A if A SCtI format^ Basic file (else 
space char) 

7E06 E6 01 LPB 01 , X 



7E0e Cl FF 

7EfflA 26 Oa 

7E0C 81 42 

7EBE 26 B4 

7E10 86 4 1 

7E12 20 02 

7E14 86 2B 



CMPB 


#*FF 


BNE 


>7Sl4 


CMPfl 


N«42 


BNE 


57E14 


LDA 


#♦41 


BRA 


>7E16 


LPS 


»*20 



7Fi6 ED 80 OC 



JSR 



$BBBC 



Save inter-block gap flag (00= continuous 

data= binary, FF--gaps (with sync)= 

ASCIIidataj 

7E19 A6 02 UCA 02, ft 

7E1B A7 BP 00 E0 STA >7EFF,pC 

Save mfc addresses in name block 

7E1F EC 03 LDD 03.)!: 
7E21 ED BD 00 P7 STD >7EFC,PC 



^ initial error occurred, more errors 
rray be reported before the start of the 
next file is detected (the important thing Is 
that the program Keeps going!), 

During the "motor on" time, you can of 
course take the recorder out of read mode 
and skip along the tapes forwards/back- 
wards as desired. 

The scfeen dtspiay is as foflows: FILE- 
NAME ^ the eight-character name Ihat 
the file was created with; TYPE — B 
(Basic), D (Data) or M (machine code] file 
type; ASCII FLAG — A if it is a Basic file 
saved in ASCII format (CSAVE . . .,A 
option); BLOCK COUNT — the count of 
the number of DATA blocks between the 



Header block and any EOF block {if any), 
displayed in hex; EOF FLAG — displays 
an upward arrow symboi if a separate EOF 
block is present; ADDRESSES (if machine 
code file) — load and start in hex. 

Error codes (displayed in reverse 
screen) are: 

X — Error occurred (it is followed by the 
error code returned tiy the Basic read 
subroutine displayed in hex; the only error 
mentioned in the grey Dragon Data leaflet 
is a checksum error on the block), 

n — Not a Header block when expected 
(eg at the start of a run and will undoubted- 
ly occur when reading past blocks follow- 
ing an 1-0 error); it is followed by the block 



type actually read, displayed in hex (01 
Data block; FF EOF block). 

h — Header block occurred before the 
previous file had been correctly terminaied 
(ie EOF block missing, perhaps when a 
program had failed while writing a data file 
and the file was not cliosed) 

Tapescan occupies 675 bytes of stor- 
age, including a £55- byte input buffer, thus 
the highest address that it can be loaded at 
is 32093 (hex 7D5D). That is why the 
addresses on the simulated machine code 
listing start at this address. This acts as a 
more than useful guide when entering the 
program using Topsy as if you give that 
address as the start address for ►* 



February 1984 Dragon User 39 



_rc:rEEnpL3L| 

1 34 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5JU. Telephone 04 1-248 248 



s$$ 




MAD MONTY 



IT'S MEALTIME FOR MONTY 

AND FROGS ARE ON THE MENU !! 

GUIDE THIS RAVENOUS PYTHON 
AROUND THE GARDEN GULPING FROGS 
AND MUNCHING MAGIC MUSHROOMS 
BUT BEWARE OF THE POISONOUS 
TOADSTOOLS. 

KEEP YOUR COOL AND YOU MAY CATCH 
A SPEEDY MOUSE FOR A DESERT! 



THE ANIMATOR 



IS YOUR DRAGON QUICK ON THE 
DRAW? .... 

CAN YOU "DO A DISNEY '? 

NOW, THE ANSWER IS YES!! 

WITH THE FLICK OF A CURSOR YOU 
CAN CREATE YOUR OWN FULL COLOUR 
CHARACTERS AND WATCH WITH 
AMAZEMENT AS THEY SPRING INTO 
LIFE IN YOUR VERY OWN USABLE 
ROUTINES. 

FROM SPREADING PALMS TO SPEEDING 
SPACECRAFT , , . THE LIMIT IS YOUR 
OWN IMAGINATION! 



PRICE: £7.95 



PRICE:£9.95 



Available by Mali Order, from SCREENPLAY, 134 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5DU. 

(Checks payable to SCREENPLAY) 




W 




PROGRAM FACTORY LTD 

. , . are pleased lo announce that they have acquired 
all rights (0 market Programmers Guild software for 
ih© Dragon computer, to com plem^ntlheir exist! r>g range. Programmer's 
Guird IS an American-based company producing quality machine-code 
programs We have a wide range of software, including litles for the Gric- 
1 , Colour Genie, CBM 64, Spectrum, Dragon and Tl 99/4^, ar»d they all 
oomo in attraclive dustproof video cases. Call in at your locaf 
software dealer to view the games or contact us at the address 
below for 24-hour delivery. Send stamped, 
addressed envelope for cataJogue 
TRADE EP^OUIRIES TO YOUR USLfAL 

PUCKIVI^ °'="""™" 




Fill \rt |t>B Dtd^t form and sent to' 

PROGRAM FACTORV LTD. 39, Ha.lwayr flo3d, Darwar, Lancashifs 

Tfll: (0254) 776677 

Please rush me the following games (liolt boK). Cheques 

ri Ji3 paj'^ole to Program Factory Lid. All prices incliKte VAT 



Name (BLOCK CAPITALS PLEASE) 



^^ 



□RAGON K-33 

nTasksriip 
[_] Ninja Warrior 
n Pacdroid£ 

vic-» 

□ PucJ<rrtan 



£8 95 
Il89E 
EB95 

t6 99 



Address 



Telephone orders accBpted by credii card 

n ACCESS 



Tcital «rKla3«d 



Signature 



HJ Fsb*« 



40 Dragon User February 1964 



7E25 EC 05 


LDD 


05, K 


7E27 ED SD aa CF 


STD 


>7EFA,PC 


Clear and display block count 




7E2P Bh 00 


LDft 


tt«00 


7520 A7 BD 00 CD 


STA 


>7EFE,PC 


7E31 17 00 fli. 


LBSR 


>7EDA 


7E34 20 0e 


BRA 


5 7E3E 


Crteck /.f sync needed (gap flag- 


FF) 


7E3& A& BD 00 CE 


LCiA 


>7FFF,F-C 


7E5(S| Bl FF 


CMF'H 


#*FF 


7E;JC 2i> 03 


BNE 


>7E4l 


7E3E BD 80 21 


JSPi 


t0O2l 


Gef expected data or EOF block 


. 


7E41 AD 9F ftO 0fc 


J&R 


[ *Aoa6 } 


7645 96 &1 


LDfl 


*81 


7E47 27 IC 


BEQ 


>7E65 


Reacf error occurred 






7e49 BD se IB 


JSR 


480118 


7E4I:; B6 7B 


LDA 


lt*7B 


7E4E BD B0 0C 


JSR 


*8O0C 


7ES1 9i Bl 


LDfi 


«S1 


7E53 17 9Q 84 


LBSR 


>7EDA 


7E5A A6 AD 0e A6 


LDA 


>7FaO,Fc 


7E5A ei 02 


CMPfh 


tt¥02 


7E5C 10 2h FF ZE 


LBNE 


.>7DHE 


M'Cfiie wa$ being rgad- 


output addr0sses 


7EfrO 9D &2 


BSR 


'7EC4 


7E6S 16 FF 2"? 


LBRA 


>7DQE 


Ernor free read 






7E(b5 9i 7C 


LD*^ 


*7C 


7E67 26 14 


BNE 


.»7E7D 


B7e /leader- block wUhou! previous file \ 


Sseming to be complete 






7E69 Bh 68 


LCA 


#*6e 


7E6B BD ea ac 


JSR 


«S0BC 


7EiE A6 AD OB BE 


LD(^ 


>7Fa0,Pc 


7£72 01 02 


CMPft 


#«02 


7E74 10 26 FF 61 


LBNE 


>7DD9 



Failed on mic fiie- output m-'c addresses 



7E7a ao 3F 

7E7ft 16 FF 5C 

I'aJ/d data.' EOF block 

7E7D 81 FF 



BSR >7EB? 
LBRPi >7DD9- 

CMPA *t*FF 



7E7F 27 22 BEQ >7Ef43 

Dafa (JtoCiff - increment and display block 
count 



7ES1 9E aa 

7Eai 30 IE 

7Ee5 9F aa 

7Ea7 At SC 74 
7EeA 4C 
7 EBB A7 3C 7Q 
7EeE 8D 4A 



LDK «BQ 

LEfl)( -02, )< 

STK *B9 

LDfl >7EFE, PC 

INCA 

STA >7EFe,PC 

BSR >7EDA 



M.'c flle$ ar0 at end if block length <255 

7E90 A 6 SC 6D LDA >7F(affl, PC 



7E93 81 02 



CMPft ♦t*02 



7E9j le 26 FF i?D 


LBNE 


>7E36 


7E'?<? 96 7D 


LDA 


*7D 


7E9Ei 81 FF 


CMP A 


tt*FF 


7E9C 27 fi3 


BEQ 


>7E41 


Mic file snded (no separate EOF block) 


7E9F 66 23 


LDft 


fl«20 


7EA1 20 02 


BF%A 


>7EA5 


EOF block read (if m'c file length 

of 255 byte$, has an EOF block) 


i$ integral 


7EAi 86 5E 


LDi^ 


#*5E 


7EA5 BD SB 0C 


JSR 


4:BQ0C 


7EAa BD BB la 


JSR 


«Q01S 


7EAB 66 BE 52 


LDA 


>7FOffl,PC 


7EAE ei 02 


CMF-A 


tt«02 


7EB0 10 26 FE DA 


uei^E 


>7DaE 


M' c file - output 2 space 
from HDR bk^ck 


chars + m.' c address 


7EB4 SD 03 


BSR 


:;-7EB9 


7EBfi l£i FE D5 


LBRA 


>7DeE 


Subroutines, display 2 spsce ct}afs+m:c 
Sddresse$ from HDR biQck 


7EB9 Sft 20 


LDA 


it*20 


7EBB BD 50 0C 


OSP 


«eo0c 


7EBE BD 80 BC 


JSR 


I800C 


7EC1 SD 01 


BSR 


>7EC4 



7EC3 


39 




fits 




Display m.'c addresses 


/n ftex 




7EC4 


^0 ec 


33 


LEf^!( 


>7EFA,PC 


7EC7 


SD O:; 




BSR 


>7ECC 


7EC9 


SD IBi 




B9R 


.j7ecc 


7eCE 


39 




RTS 




Display space char+2bytes (addressed by 
reg X) in hex 


7BCQ 


Q6 20 




LDA 


««20 


7ECE 


BD B0 


ac 


JSR 


«800C 


7ED1 


A6 80 




LDA 


,x+ 


7ED3 


8D 0S 




BBR 


^7EDA 


7ED5 


A6 80 




LDA 


,X + 


7ED7 


SD 01 




BSR 


>7EDA 


7ED9 


Z9 




RTS 




Display char in 


reg A in tiex 




7EDA 


34 04 




PSHS 


B 


7EDC 


IF 89 




TFR 


A,B 


7EDE 


44 




LSRA 




7EDF 


44 




LSRA 




7EE0 


44 




LBRA 




7eEl 


44 




LSRA 




7EE2 


12 




MCJP 




7EE3 


BD 09 




BSR 


>7EEE 


7EES 


IF 9a 




TFR 


B,A 


7EE7 


B4 OF 




ANDA 


M4or 


7EE9 


SD 03 




SSFt 


>7EEe 


7EEB 


3S 04 




PULS 


B 


7EED 


39 


n rart Ji / 


RTS 
n Fi f^ J 


iCf^il »^„, 



$ind display 
7EEE SB 30 

7eF0 Bl 3A 

7EF2 25 02 

AlphsA-F 
7EF4 80 07 
7EF6 BD 80 BC 

7EF9 39 

Variable data area 



ADDA #^30 

CMP A #*3A 

BCS >7EF6 

ADDA N«07 

J5R *800C 

RTS 



< writing hex strings, the "hex write 
prompt" will correspond exaclly with ihe 
(ire of coding to be entered. 

Once saved (start address 32093, 
length 413, entry point 0) — and the save 
verified with the program itself! — the 
program may be loaded at any time with 
CLOADM, ensuring first thai from at least 
32093 memory is reserved for machrne 
code (CLEAR 200.32093), (Should you 
get — shall we say — an interesting 
screen background to ttie title, you will 
probably find that you have failed to 
reserve tfie machine code area prior to 
loading!) 

I save a copy of Tapescan at the 



beginning of alf my tapes for instant 
accessrbilily and load it into the Dragon 
every time I switch on — It saves an awful 
lot of hassle. 

Only 413 bytes need to be saved as the 
remainder of the 675 bytes is the variable 
data area; 



7EFA 


RMB2 


DFMLOAD 


7EFC 


RMB2 


DFMENTRY 


7EFE 


RMB1 


DFBLKCNT 


7EFF 


RMBI 


DFGAP 


7F00 


RMB1 


OFTYPE 


7F01 


RMB 255 


DBUFF 



Even as f am writing this, my mind Is 
working on further developments of 

Tapescan , , . How about ensuhng that the 



processor is currently working ai the slow- 
er speed before accessing the tape for the 
first time (Sfore any register to hex 
FFD6)? , , , Is diverting the display to a 
printer (should you be so lucky!}; jusi a 
matter of altering the "JSR SSOOC 
instructions to "JSR $800 F" . , ,? 

Should you have found it too daunting a 
prospect to enter the Topsy code from the 
published listing, I am prepared to send 
readers a copy on cassette by return post 
on receipt of £3,50; for another £1, i will 
include Tapescan on the cassette, too. 
Address: Pam DArcy, 21 Wycombe Lane, 
Wooburn Green, High Wycombe, Bucks 
HP10 0HD ■ 



February 1984 Dragon User 41 



BRITAIN'S BEST-SELUNG 
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A^ graphic 3D simulation game, taking place inside vOur Dragon. Equipped with your MK Tvpe Datatank, ypu must search out and destroy 

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42 Dragon User February 1984 



The easy 
way to 

Interfacing 

FoUow A G Nanson 's instructfons to build an analogue.' digital 
interface - next month we'll show you how to use the interface to 
turn your Dragon into a simple storage oscilloscope. 





TOP 


ROW 






BOTTOM ROW 


Re a 


ding 


from RighE 


to Left 


Read 


in^ 


frora Right to Left 


1 




^ 12 VOLT 




2 




+ 12 VOLT 


3 




HALT 




4 




NMI 


3 




EESET 




6 




EIM 


7 




Q IN 




S 




CAST 


9 




+ 5 VOLT 




10 




DO 


11 




Dl 




12 




D2 


13 




D3 




L4 




04 


15 




D5 




16 




IM 


17 




D7 




18 




R/W 


19 




m 




20 




Ai 


21 




A2 




22 




A3 


23 




kit 




24 




A5 


25 




A6 




26 




A7 


27 




A8 




26 




A9 


29 




AlO 




30 




AH 


n 




A12 




32 




];t2 


33 




GROUND 




3A 




GROUKD 


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SND 




36 




P2 


37 




A13 




36 




AU 


39 




A15 




40 




EXT MEM 



Disgfanj ' ■ srtowjnp ifie pi^n out of the Dragon 's cartridge connector 



t^LK 



P 

n 
ft 





6 
u 
5 



V 



flo- A5 



CONTft-^L k_|l**^^ 



V 

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op ft" P ft uffe K 



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Figufe t: analoguB- digital interface shown as $ block diagram 



APART FROM THE purely mechanical 
problem of getting at the cartridge connec- 
tor (the address, data and control lines are 
accessed through this connector), interfac- 
ing the Dragon 32 Is a relatively straight- 
forwand affair. 

Perhaps it should be mentioned at this 
point that an Indispensable aid to anyone 
wishing to interface a microcomputer is its 
circuit diagram. In the case of the Dragon it 
should be possible to obtain a copy from 
Dragon Data itself. The TRS-80 Color 
Computer Technical Reference Manual is 
also a veritable mine of information, much 
of which is applicable to the Dragon 32. 
Another source of useful information are 
the data sheets for the various integrated 
circuits used in the construction of the 
computer, eg the MC6809E CPU, the 
WCeee3--74LS783 synchronous address 
multiplexer and the MC6e47 Colour Video 
Display Generator. 

The pinout of the Dragon's cartridge 
connector is shown in Diagram 1. 

The interface itseil is shown as a block 
diagram rn Figure 1 and In circuiit form in 
Figure 2. The ZN427 ADC and the ZN426 
DAC are interfaced to the Dragon 32 witti- 
the aid ol a 6522 VIA (Versatile Interface 
Adapter). This device, as well as providing 
the iwo 8 -bit parallel data ports required by 
the converters, also provides the means to 
activate the 2N427, synchronise the dock 
pulses and detect any triggering signal, 
Because of the comparative complexity of 
the 6522 VIA anyone not familiar with it is 
recommended to obtain the relevant data 
sheets. 

General purpose 

The ADC connected to the G port of tlie 

6522 VIA, the Ferrantf ZN427, is an B-bit 
successive approximation AD connector. 

This is a good general purpose device, 
relatively cheap, easily obtained, and fairly 
fast, It has a 10 micro-second conversion 
time at a clock rate of 900 KHZ. The clock 
signal for the ZN427 is obtained from Pin 6 
of the Dragon cartridge connector; the 
Clock is gated to the ZN427 via a 74LS1 25 
tri-state buffer, the purpose of which is to 
ensure that the incoming clock si;gnal is 
synchronised to the start of conversion 
pulae which is obtained from the 6522 
VIA's CA2 control line. 

The negative voltage for the ZN427 
ADC (on pin 5) may be obtained from a 
7660 voltage connector I C as in the circuit 
illustrated; alternatively a dual voltage 
supply could be tfsed, In any case it is 
suggested that a separate +5 Volt (VCC) 
supply is used for the board rather than run 
the risk of overloading the Dragon's PSU. 

The 6522 VIA's A port feeds the DAC, a 
Ferranti ZN426 e-bit digital to analogue 
converter, the output of which is buffered 
by a LM35e op amp connected as a 
voltage follower, 

For the home constructor, it is largely a 
matter of taste and depth of pocket how 
the interface is constructed. For building 
experimental Circuits I prefer to use bread- 
boards or plug boards. Although the intitlal 
cost of these components is quite high, 
this is compensated for by the ease with 
which compiejc circuiting can be ► 



February 1984 Dragon User 43 



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AA Dragon User February 1934 




DRAG0N32 

Two f »at boofca to bclp 

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DYNAMIC GAMES FOR THE DRAGON 32 - Tim 

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. !; Making ttietnost of your Dragon. 

I Name 



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I 

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I 
I 

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GRAVESEND 
HOME COMPUTERS 

Your home corrputer shop for DRAGONS, Disc dnves, 
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Mail order also available, 

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21 1 Separate Dragon Software Titles in Stock, 

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KOKOmaths and TEDDY. Two programs with stiimu- 

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for under 8s. Exceilent graphics, only E5.9S. 

Pay us a visit If you need hBtp - then just ask: Courses 
available in the New Year for beginners on mic and 
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We are a registered Dragon service centre. 



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39 The Terrace, Grawesend DA12 2BA 
TeJephone 047fl-50677 



-+5V 



bus 



^ *^ 'Of^f 







OUT 



^0. --^ 



3^otiL 



rrn e>v 



Figure 2: sn^fogue- digital interface shown as a cifCutt diagrsm i'Trigger" i$ for next month's osciltoBCOpe} 



M assembled and altered as required, 

Alternalively, the circuit can be assem- 
bled on one of the many types of Vero 
board available — Veto V-Q board and 
Vero DfP board being preferred as no 
track cutting is required. The DIP is very 
useful as it tias two power rail tracks 
running between the IC mounting pads. 
Connections between the various compo- 
nents can be made by wire links soldered 
to vero pins (see Figure 3). 

A criticism of this method is that it could 
give rise to problems due to stray capaci- 
tance, noise pick-up, etc^ but for most 
applications this method has given good 
results. The primary requirement is ttie 
ability to produce a good soldered joint, If 
one of the Veno boards is used then the 
integrated circuits should be socketed and 
not soldered direct to the board. 

Due precautions should be observed 
when handling the 6522 VIA, ZN427 and 



ZN4e6 as these may be damaged by static 
electricity. The circuit stiouJd also be thor- 
oughly checked before power is applied. 

Connection 

For connecting interfacing circuits to the 
Dragon 32, I use the method shown in 
Figure 4. The extension piece was cut 
from double sided printed circuit board. 
.The tracks were formed with the aid of acid 
resistant PCB transfers (obtainable from 
Maplin Electronic Supplies), sheet 10 (0 1" 
spaced edge connectors) and sheef 1 1 
(straight lines 140 x o,5m ) being re- 
quired. It is extremely Important that accu- 
rate register between the tracks on each 
side of the extension piece be maintained 
Once the tracks have been etched they 
may be tinned, and the device given a coat 
of insulating varnish, witti the exception of 
the contacting areas, of course, Ttie inter- 
lace is connected to the extension piece 



by means of 20 x 20 x 1 " pitch edge 
connector wired to a ribbon cable. 

Now on to program miri 9 and setting-up. 
An examination of the Dragon 32 s mem- 
ory map will show that the area FFOO- 
FF5F (65280-65375) iS resen/ed for inpuf 
output functions. Some of this space is 
occupied by the Dragon's two resident 
iyC6S21 peripheral interface adapters. 
However, any device having its chip en- 
able or chip select line connected to P2 
(Pin 36 of the Dragon Cartridge Connec- 
tor} will be activated if any memory 
address in the area FF40-FF5F is acces- 
sed. In the circuit shown (see Figure 2) the 
6522 VIA has its est pin taken to the -i-S 
Volt line, while its CS2 pin is taken to P2 on 
the Dragon Bus, the address lines AO, A1, 
A2, A3 are connected to the VIA s BSO, 
RSI, RS2, RS3 (register select) pins 
respectively. 

In this configuration the addresses of ► 



Vt»iOHtJ.S 



Vfrtt? v- 



AppiKD 




StEl^-tp 



wr«e kift/fCS 




figure 3: connections can be made by wire links soldered to vero ptns, or 



%^m 



breadboards or plugt)a&rd$ msy be used 



February 1984 Dragon User 45 






-p> Ra.ftt <^ on f, ^1 



IJKJ3 ' 



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"D* l*eitt 6 en Fi*l. 






X 



fit* 



^777 






F;;3i/f5e ^^,- bi-polAr operation 

< the VJAs 16 8-bit registers are as 
shown In Diagram 2. Of the 1 6 registers a 
total of six are of concern to us- 1 2 3 
12 and 13, ■ ^ . i 

First I'll look at the analogue lo digitaf 
section. In order to operate this, the 
computer must perform the following ac- 
tions: 

tnitiatlse the various registers of the 6522 A 
Normaliy all registers wouJd be initialised 
at the start of the pj-ogram, but for the 
purposes of explanation each register will 
be dealt with as the need anses. The JRB 
and the ORA registers must be initialised 
for input and output respectively, This is 
accorn pushed by writing zero to the B Port 
data direction register (ODRB) at FF42, 
and by writing FF to the A Port data 
direction register (DDR A) at FF43. 
Disable the dock signal to the ADC and 
send a start conversion pulse to it. For the 
ZN427 to operate correctly the clocK signai 
must be synchronised to the start conver- 
sion puise fsee ZN427 data sheet for 
details) One way of doing this is to disable 
the clock signal while the start conversion 
pulse is sent to the ZN427. the clock is 













Figure 4: method for connecting interfacing circuits to the Dragon 




Plugging Figure 4 into cartnt^ge port 
then re-enabied. Note that, estcept for the 
duration of the start conversion pulse, the 
WR line of the ZN427 is left high. Referring 
bacJ< to the circuit diagram {Figure 2} it will 
be .seen that the computer dock is gated to 
the.ZN4£7 via a 74 LSI 25 trl-state buffer 
whose enable line Is taken to CB2 on the 
VIA, Also, the ZN427"s Pin 4 (WRK which 
receives the start conversion pulse, is 






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connected to CA3 on the VIA. The four 
control lines of the 65522 VIA. ie CA1, 
CA2, CB1 and CB2, are manipulated by 
writing to the peripheral control register 
(PCR) at address FF4C. The configuration 
of this register is shown in Diagram 3 To 
disable the clocJ< CB2 is sent high bv 
wnting 1 1 1 to bits 7, 6, 5 of the PCR This 
turns off the 74LS125. CA2 is put in (he 
pulse mode by writing ioi to bits 3, 2 1 
CBl Interrupt Control is set to active 
negative edge and CAt to don't care- 
POKE SHFF4, &HEB (1110 1101) 
And a negative going pulse one dock 
cycle in length (the start conversion pulse) 
1$ sent out on CA2 by performing a write to 
the VlA's ORA register (see data sheet on 
the 6522 VIA): 

POKE &HFF41,0 
Re -enable ciocf< signai The clock is re- 
enabled by whiing 1 1 to bits 7, 6, 5 of the 
PCR, thus sending 032 low and turning on 
the 74LS125, At the same time CA2 is sent 
high by writing 111 to bits 3,2,1, The CB1 
Interrupt Control Line (which is connected 
tg the trigger output) is set to respond to an 
active negative edge: ► 






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' 


:0 


HinilihUF 5UTJUI 


t 


D 1 


Pu]m oucpuL 


I 
I 


1 

= 1' 





CHJ CntBrrup-t Coeti^Dl 



£iC-kvc- I 



jA . hfrr" *nU i:hl rpipr-ndk l,-« .i ;>ns£tivp " 



46 Dragon User February 1984 



Dfsgram 3: peripheral control register 



^■uiiiiiiiMiDijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifiiinrn 




EDUCATIONAL 
SOFTWARE 

DESIGNED BY 

EXPERIENCED 
TEACHERS 



THE TIGER 1.0. TEST 



£7.95 s 



Tesi yovr Own I Q (tnenrfs too!) or pfacUoe tot job se-lection (esis Your s 

v^fbaJ, numerical and visual abilities are tested lo the full m TWO formal ^ 

I.Q. (e-sis timed ovef 30 minuies. Tcrtally in tijgti rssoiuieon. Final I.Q. score 3 

and assessm^ni plus corfecl answef stieet. 5 



THE TIGER GRAND PRIX 



£7,95 



A rnammotti educalioi package Tfiy Tiger Gr^ntj PrJK' reinforcas loarr^ing 
in Maths. English and General Knowledge for allaj9es(7-16+) and abililies 
whilst at play Over 500 originar quesiions and answers Fun Quiz and 
t)i^\f\ teasers tor adulls loo Supplied on a CtS casselle full of software 
Joysticks not required. We are wontiing or> an additional module Itiat will 
allo^*' yo^ to use The Tiger Grar»d Prix as a teaching aid for arvy age, 
abiliT/ arsd subiect 



THE USER FILE GENERATOR 



£5.95 



Fof use with The Tiger Grand Pri;(. Compile your own sels ol questions 
and answers lor use in the game, and mahe permanent cofjies on casselle 
(or future use. With this module you can build a library ol (he questions that 
you want your children lo use Vol> controf the ediication in a totally 
versatile learning game for all ages, subjecis and abilihes. 

* * WANTED * • yve warn to market your quality educational games for 

Ihe Dragon and BBC machina&. 

f^oiv avai'a&iu stse'wtisicrcfflicnies <?' Soets- 




^bm 



Deafer and sxport enquiries mefcome 




TIGER SOFTWARE 

S Dept D7, 63 Devonshire Street, MonkwearmoLfth = 

S Sunderland, Tyne & Wear. (07B3) 484592 | 

'llllllllllMllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllHIillllllllllllttllllT 



l OTHLOiMEN f 



'w«. 



.^****^^' 



There's still ptenty of fightieft in the Confederate 
south as taf n Side seiet « fcsrces to nianoeu vcp on a 
fuii-graphKStJfittiefieici Play against the computer 
Ofchallenge 3 friend to perfect your tactics ana 
re-yy r I te A merica n h istorv. 

se n a fo r J oh,nn V Re b and these othe r tota M V 
a bso rbing 4tra tegv g ames for vo u r Dragon 3 2 n owf 

l~Piease send me these Dragor«32 games at £6.95 each (tick box) ~ 






WARLORD Chaiie nging U3 me set i n 

litti Century Japan 

ROMAN E HPIil!E C nqu 9r C he ho^T 1 1 P 
tourt tries su r roil n d I n g fiome 

isnciosscneflime po K?r£ 

Ple^wdBbitnwAcressA LHa. 



TVRfl f^T OF ATHENS F igtit land a nd I 

?ea battles againsfthevast . 

f>ersiian Empire I 

SAMURAI WARRIOR | 

Can you survive as a Samurai? 



.mHlepavable rnMC LocMlorien 



siijnEd 



Addi^ss 



I 

I (end to M-C. Lothkirten, Dept . 



sea Parle Lane. PavntDn.Che^hireJKIflhE. 
T^I:MlSeTft6J3 



L OTHLORIEN % -^mi^^^emm 



L%^ 



^ 



DELTASOFT PROUDLY PRESENTS THE 

HI-RES COLOUR GRAPHICS 
DUMP 

You can now copy all Higfi Resolution graphics screens available 

from Basic on to paper wUh a: 

Tandy CGP 115 (Printer plotter) 

WCP-40 4 colour primer ploiter 

Oric printer 

Sharp Prin let plotter 

and the Colour Graphics Dump program. 

Tills program cttjmps alMhe graphic screen available from basic, 
both moniochrome and colour. E:< tensive features include: 

* Choice ol any Iwo or four colours from a palate of 15 

* HALF HEIGHT ard HALF WIDTH modes if the graphics 
moides allovif 

* Special SLOW MODE for greater accuracy and greater deplh 
of colour 

* EXTRA LIGHT mode for dumping more than a full screen and 
01 hers 

Available from DELTASOFT ^t 

the special low price 

of only £4.95 each 



Please make che<iues and POs out to Deltasofi and send away 
today to: DELTASOFT, 40 Windsor Road, Doncaster DN2 5BT 
Tel: 0302-61016 
Trade Enquiries Welcome 



Tandy CGP 115 
r^CP-40 

Name 



.C4.95 
,E:4.95 



Address. 



.Postcode. 




OTFTMf ARF 

7 Shardon Plai;e, North Hill, Plymouth PL4 BHA 
telephone 0752 660415 

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS 

SUMS UP 1 For the 5-1 2 age group. 
Select addition, subtraction or muJtiplJcation tables. 
Select difficulty and time limit then compete against 
the clock to score 20 before you run oirt of time. 
Uses hl-res graphics and 24K of memory. 

SUMS UP 2 For age 9 upwards 

Similar to Sums Up 1 but lets you add, subtract, 
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out the answer when you make a mistake. 
Uses hi-res graphics and 22K of memory. 

Please send me: 

SUMS UP 1 E7.95 D 

SUMSUP2 £7.95 D 

I enclose cheque PO for £ 

NAME.. „.,, 

ADDRESS 



February 1964 Dragon User 47 



l/l/iz£ird Safti/i/aro 

NEW 
RELEASES 

CLOWNS £7 gg 

A h,ghfv colourful Arcacfe games pack cmtainirg frw man-puPative and 
RED ALERT ^^ gg 

^A^^i J wports. jigxHl-s fecfflved, galacdc search scanner 

mntrol warp drive, s(ar bas*s with docking, black hoJeT Dlane^fand 
pranet landalJ, putears. ™.a., .tars. .s.erSds. metS ihunSs IS 

leve(s of difficulty . Cgmes witti ins( ructon manual ■^'"'a*''^ rgur 

TIME PORT T £3^5 

lIZl^^^J" ^ ^^"^^ **' ^'^^ ^^^1' strategy ad^enrure games Direel votir 

X to^riir;;: s^^rt^'^^^ '^^" '^^ '^-^^ -'^ -^ -- -"■^!?^" ^^^ 



Als^j available 

SliJWDrir 

Eviclg-r 



CS,95 
17.95 
£7,95 



Smash tags SfpNltlV fS 35 

Frurta £5J5 WVjarH C595 

irrpiet £5.95 BalJeDns £J 95 

SPECIAL OFFER: Any 3 games E15.OD, or any i games £20 DO 
All prices irK^LJsive, maH order, cluequesor posiaJ orders iq- 

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DUNFERMLINE, FIFE KY11 5RW 

A(so avaiiatfis fnom soKware reiaiiers wurtd-widta 

Send arge SAE (7in >< 5<nJ (orlvH program catalogue 

RoyaJties pa^d for superior quarily DRAGON software 



ftBfiCUS SDFTlilftfiE-LIH-UfnUEO. 

21 UNION STREET RAMSB0770M.Nr.BUHYLAM:S. 



(r 



,^.(v*i 



MATHS TUTOR. 

A SET Of 
PROGRAMS FOR 

TEACHlMG MATHS 
TO YOUhG 

fi-iP¥EABSt. 

£5.00 



EDUCATION 



ARTIST 



csw 



UHtATE rtrjHHs CiE'5iGtwi.ArJDn*ntHhS 
TH*T C*MK flEPl ICATED PjmTEDOB 
STOflEOAI THC Ksut.H^>, aulTCW 

HETBICAL E-oo 

/I CLJUWEnsiOm PfflMBAW FOfi HErsiK UWTS 

(?■ LEVtL {WOGflWHY 08 (A 

■weiTWAHAPS^BOlS' 

ATFACMlMliAniNHIGJHFES QFW^iCH THAT 
CtjVFHSTMC Q LEVEL S'fLHSUS 

TELlTMeitai pj^ 

I IM ENGLISH l=FEr^nOM(3FHMJi,h|ii 
PRCKjFfAMu£E5HIGM-f|tS riHAPmCSflMl 
SOgrvpTOTEflCh ChioqtNHCWTCi TbU THE 
-l\tfQ IWEITricq trKXSM FfltNChOfiGEHMAW 

MEASUFUNeiFtTTlLWeNTB «» 

/, TeA(>llhiC ACKW Q ^CvtL tursiCS USING 
IOC*. HKTJH-nES GH^PhlC3TL3LI£PHOhSTlRniE 
THE USE (IF MrC-TCMtTFR6 vrBMEH 

Scales CTL 

FmSTLJTiCTISMI&WDBDS ftSO 

A mOGfl^kl JE&lChtD'OhFLPOllLtlHEN 
PQ™ LETTEPlfi Akp i/SE ThEKflh SlWLt 
WCfins AUDSErtrFrJCES 

s,tos« GAMES 

IIBlT£!fl Of Vifi i-f M 

VQUfll ONL CAN FlhOmEWlTlHQF I if L *«0 
EVILteicES^"" fMPHFOF O^FHoi-lHE 

M*HV MOFIE PfiCHWflMS *VAlLrtBLF 
SFHDS.flf FOR OE TAILS 



fi».i,V?|if ■. , 

£9.95 



MUSIC TUTOR. 

LEARN HU6IC 
WITHiTHIS 
COMPHEH^NSIVE 
PACKAGE THAT 
USESHIGHHF3 
GRAPHICS ANO ALL 
THE DMAGOMS 
MUSIC FACFUTIES 
THE PACKACif 
INCLUDES DEMO. 
PRiOGRAHg. 



BUSINESS 



PL«flCHftS€.'SAL£S LEDGEfi Ei(.« 

ACOMPlE-TFaALES WUPiJHCh^SC LtLMEH 
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CREDIT MO' t AHA, VSS. ST*TEMFWT^ 
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aisnofJEFi LISTINGS KUPPLCPifepuriTE 

IIWQCt U5TIHGS AND FIEMITTANCE AtJWrF 

NOTES ED ACCOUNTS TCGfTHER WITH SCO 

Tlfl*HS*C1l[W5CAMBEHELD0(yFllE 

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MENU H*HFD SrSTEM [JIVIHG MltflHUH AMD 

MAMfcHJMHTOCK SUPPLIER DETAILS ^iUyrV. 

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nVO PHCHbHAHSVSTEM HFW?WDIt4Q ALL 
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NOh-VAT ACCOUNTS n 5 (B 

FOPr^aw VftTABlEBl^lNtKBEE PdOGfiAIU 
JilMUL/.TESLJOLBLE ENTfllf Bt>r3K.KjECUWG 
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HOMEFINAPKE fswi 

COMT HO VOLIR FAWILV ACCQJUTS Wl H THIS 
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I II I IN VOUn TflS h 0RH5 WITH EASE *N0 

u.Jnh ii!f Nr.:f uSiFvO iMSPnoc.n*M 

»^FtSflt«Lft*NK.AigCOUf*f ET35 

KEEP (XiMPLETE LofHTHQ. Of ■fCf.m hauk 

ACOOUl^ WJTH Tufe PFKKiMW 



gemehous D£Aleh discounts 



£Mtiii)iiiiiij|iiiiii||iiiiiiirii I tiiiiimiii ( ijHiMiiiiP: 

=/i*^?^ P^ complete ^v-^^*^. 

=^ ^*>^ speech synthesis system ^V*^'* 



%" 



SPEECH SYNTHESIS MODULE 

.lor the Dragon 32 computer. 



= • Fully cased module plugs into cartridge port | 

I •Unlimited TOcabulary, using allophona-type, | 

§ dedicated speech chip i 

I • Approximately 250 words predefined; accessed i 

= by entering word required 5 

E • Complete control using five new BASIC i 

= commands | 

= • Speech can easily be incorporated into existing = 

S BASIC programs | 

= • Up to 40 words spoken from one command; | 

s speech can occur simultaneously with graphics i 

I # £37.95 inclusive | 

I Also available: SOUND EXTENSION MODULE for = 

I use with the Dragon computer — provides facility to = 

I play chords and harmonies over five octaves — = 

i easy to use via BASIC — built-in sound effects — | 

i music and graphics can occur simultaneously — I 

I two I/O ports — user manual — ONLY E34.95 s 

= inclusive 5 

\ ACCESS; ChequelPO to: = 

I J.C.B.CIVIICROSYSTEMSI I 

= 29 South bourne Road, Bournemouth, BH6 SAE ^ 

I Tel; (0202) 423973 = 

s Write or phone for further details | 

'iMiiiiiiit tiHimiii tiiMiiiiiiiiiiir i iiiiiifiiiiiiiiiiimiiiA 

48 Dragon User February 1984 



* WEST DEVON 



1^ 

:; 

I h 

I 

* t 
f I 

ii 

I I 

:: 
i: 

ii 

1^ 



ELECTRONICS 

STATION ROAD, HORRABRIDGE 
YELVERTON, DEVON (0822) 853434 



DRAGOH APPOINTED SERVICE AND fiEPAlR CENTRE 



DRAGON 32 £174.00 

Ind. VAT 



DRAGON 64 £229.00 

Your cheap solution to a small business system 
Ask for details 



184K DRAGON DISC DRIVE 

Complete with three 5Vj inch Floppy Discs 

£274.00 



Incl. VAT 



Four-Colour Plotter- Printer for your Dragon. Uses 
plain roll paper £169.00 incl, VAT. Send for sample 

print-out 

SEND FOR LIST OF OTHER 
DRAGON ITEMS. SOFTWARE, ETC 

You can order and pay for any of tiiese and other 
items we self at any Past Office. Send for details. 



FREE POSTAGE AND PACKING 






10 

20 
30 



>TPINb*(2l3,, "r' > 



70 

90 
110 

120 

Ha 

1?0 

180 
lya 

200 

210 
230 



REM **J*:PR0GRRN I ^:*^: 

PR1NH*3S> "RLUUbT BlPOLRh: IMPUT'^ =PRIHTe70, 

Pf>INli^4!53. "PRESS BPtHK TO ESCRPE" 

PGKE&:HFF42. : prjKE^:HFf-43 . ^HFF 

PPlNTe99. '^RPPLV -4.98 VOLTS TO H'lN" 

PR 1 Hi 1^ 1 63 .. "mMoU Of P St: T UN I I L. REBD I NG " 

PRlNt(if22?."JUST VRRIES 8FTNEEH RND 1 

POKEe. :HFF4C. fe:Hte ^ POKEfcHPF 41,0 = P0KEaHFF4C . iJiHCF ^ FUR J-0 TO 1 = NEXT 

PRINTi^3^7. '"REH[>iNG=^ " ,: PEEKX 4^HFF4U J 

T1MER«0 

IF TIMERS 50 THEN 128 

pgKEK.HFT4C. if:HFF 

PRlNTiJ^:j35,- " 

HB-im.^--i'% ■■ If m^"" THt-:N 9B else 170 

REN*^:*RDJUST iLRIN***: 

FOR Z^1120 TO 13?5=PUKEZ.96 HE>a 

PRIHTfi99."RPPLY +4.94 VOLTS 10 ^R'lN^' 

PRINT(^lt.3, "RDJUST GRIN UNTIL RERDING" 

3" 



VRRIES BETNEEH 2'>4-.--D'r 
POKEc:HPf 4 1.0^ P0KEf|.HFF4C . ^HC 



' RE HL ' i Nas= " ,i PLEK-:; !2.HFF40 ':> 



£60 

2S0 

290 
300 



PRIHT^*2^?.^JUS^ 

P0KEi^.HPF4C.yiHEE 

PRINTI5S2; 

TIMER=^0 

IF TiriER<50 THEN 240 

POKE S^iHPF4t,:.^HFF 

PRIHriif335." 

R$=INKEY*:IF RSi="*' THEN 210 ELSE 290 

REM***RE-RDJUST OPPSET:=t:*:*; 

FOR Z^M20 TO 1375 ^POKEZ. 96 NEXT 

GOT0 68 



F FOR J=0 TO 10= NEXT 



Program J : for use in setting up bi-polar operation 

POKE &HFF4C, &HCF(1100 T1TT) 
Note that the BUSi' oulput and the RD 
input lines of the ZN427 are tied together, 
so that the tn-stale outputs of the ZN427 
are automatically enabled when the data is 
valid- These two lines are also taken to the 
CA1 interrupt control line, which could be 
used, il desired, to generate a FIRQ via the 
IRQ output of the 6522, when conversion 
is complete. However, for the purposes of 
this article this is not required and the IRQ 
output is not connected to the computer, 
so CAI is se! to don't care. 
Process data. After a short delay (approx- 
imately 10 micro seconds I) while conver- 
sion lakes place, read the B port Input 
Register IRB and process any data il may 
contain: 



of input circuit 

PEEK (&HFF40) 
The next thing to look at is setting up 
analogue input to the ZN427. For a de- 
tailed account of connecting various 
ranges of analogue inputs lo the ZN427 
the reader is referred to the relevant data 
sheets. The input circuit shown in Figure 
2A is for =5 Volt full scale bi-polar opera- 
tion. Before use this should be set up as 
follows: 

1 Once the circuit has been thoroughly 
checked and all is OK, run Program 1. 

2 Apply -4.96 Volts to A in and adjust the 
offset pot until the LSB output just alter- 
nates liietween and 1 with all other bits at 


3 Apply -1-4.94 Volts to A in and adjust the 
gain pot until the LSB output just aiterna- 



ly I^En :t*.>FPROGRHM U 4-*:*: 




£0 LLS.^ PRINTJ^3,.STRlHG!?v 26: "*" X 




30 PRlNTt^35. ''CHECK UUIPUI OF 7N426 OhL." 




40 PR 1 hJT Ss:6 7 > S T R J: HG*^ 26 .. n " .' 




m P0KE>:HPF43.a;-:HFK 




60 PUKtt;.HPF41.0 




70 PRiHT(i!256.''NlHIMUM VhLUL hPPROH 0„OS 


VULTS" 


BO PRlNTi^4b3.^'PRtSS BREHK 10 ESCHpP'' 




90 T:tMER=^0 




100 IF IINEROOO IHEN ISO 




110 FOR Z-lZt^O TO i3n:P0KEZ.96^NE!KT 




120 P0KEy<HFF41.i^.:HFF 




130 PRINTlJii^S6."NHXif'IUr'l VRLUE RPPRO:^^ 2.^r-: 


'■/OLTS" 


140 TINER=0 




150 IF TIf'1ER<SO0 THEN 150 




160 FOR Z=*1280 TO 1311 ^P0KE2. 96 NEXT 




170 CO TO 60 





Program 2: to be u$ed witti a Voltmeter connected across the output 



tives between and 1 with all other bits 

aft, 

4 Repeat step 2. 

Note that if the analogue signa[ is con- 
nected directly (via a 4 kilo-ohm resisier) lo 
pin 6 of the ZN427 then the analogue input 
range is between volts and 2.55 volts. 

Now on to digital to analogue conver- 
sion. Compared with the ZN427 ADC, 
Interfacing the ZN426 DAC to the Dragon 
is quite straightforward. There are no clock 
signals, start conversion pulses or dual 
voltage supplies to worry about. The com- 
puter outputs data to the DAC through the 
A port of the 6522, The analogue oulput 
signal is taken from pin 4 of the ZN426 and 
is buffered by the LM358 voltage follower, 
(An alternative arrangement to the 
LM35S buffer t use is shown in the Ferranti 
data sheet on the ZN426 series,] 

If the circuit is OK apply ■ 5 volts lo the 
converter and OP AMP. Although not 
shown in the circuit diagram {Figure 2), 
provision should be made to switch off the 
DAC section of the interface if it is not 
required. Set tfie gain control to maximum 
and with a Volt meter connected across 
the output run Program 2. Outputting zero 
should resuit in a reading of about 0.03 
Volts (This small offset voltage can be 
removed by using one of the circuits 
illustrated in the Ferranti data sheet). 
Outputting 255 should result in a reading 
of 2,55 VoJts. 

Next month I'll expfain how this ana- 
log ue.'digital interface can be used to 
convert the Dragon iinto a simple storage 
oscilloscope. This is where the mysterious 
"Trigger" in F/gune 2comes in handy — all 
will be revealed, ■ 



February 1984 Dragon User 49 



FOR A LOT OF FUN ON YOUR 
DRAGON JOIN OUR CLUB 

Hflmbart' program llttlngt, COmpeililiDn),. tptcJil aTfara, Jokiat, loltwirt r«vj*wi 

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Altd: CHESS. DEMON, DASM, Ml RES, FORTH and CQMPOSEII. 

PRINTEflS available now . . , 
MCP40 £149.95 ificludjfig VAT 

Ugh ReselLii&n Grauhics 40- and BO-C&lumn primlpr, lour colauf*, plain ftBpEr. 

M ICROLITE 60 £256 , 75 inci u ding VAT 

80 cps. BO-KjIumn pjini. 9 x ? dpi malriit, pm aiMr&iiabla graphics, Irue dioscendsrs 
wndarsad anti doubfe wiqith charac!ars, nsar letter qusJil^ compafflW* 10 Epsori 
^anga. ^ 

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Colour £230 including VAT 

■"2 MHZ; RGB and CamposKe video. .Sefiachahle anti-giars ^inlsd gljss 1ron(. 

SANYO, PHILIPS and MICROVITICH 

Phone for prices, 

DISC DRIVES Wew CUMANA Drives 
plus DELTA Controller, 

DRAGON DRIVES AND CONTROLLER, 40-track including 
case, psij, manual and VAT E275, 



* 
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i4i*(*itAri 

EKPHEIX . 



a S 






STATACOM LIMITED 

234 HIGH STREET 
SUTTON, SURREY SMI 1NX 

Telepho ne -Mail Orders welcorrie. 01-6612266 



FOR THE DRAGON 32 

ACE HIGH (MK 2) 

Machine gun warfare 
in the sky 



v. 



Your machiie — The SpiHire, e.gh: 

machine guns. 16 ong-Sfttontf bursts. 
Your langai — slow moving HunkBi' 
b[Hnc«r« tstiiitBd bf lofintdabla Mas- 

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Ynur !Bsk — lake lhB bomhei^ apan. Engage !he MesaerscfinniHi cnPy iF ihev ^M nfi 

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Syslem and oetansd scnnecard 

A quality gama uvng 9.\\ 33K, 

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15 Summerhfll Road, Bilston, W. Midlands WV14 8RD 



DON'T JUST PLAY GAMESI 

TEACH YOURSELF TOMORftOWS TECHNOt-OGY TODAY 

O'LEVEL/CSE COMPUTER STUDIES 

Use (>ur uro-tulor cassettes io pass yCLt enams wth aas*. A aei of fiDur 
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CS£ Syliab-usas. Full tuloriai compile vvitn revision questions 
Subject areas include: 

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UNBEATABLE VALUE AT JUST E14.50 PER SET 

Cheques POs fn 

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GD SIR JOhiN'S ROAD, SELLY PARK, BIRMINGHAM B29 TER 
Tal:02l-47?TG1|]' 

SsQuirat A Quality Dragon Cempatible Casselle Playar 



Computasolve Ltd. 

8 Central Parade, St Mark's HIM 
Surbiton 

T&lephone: 01-390 5135, Opening hours; 9,3C^-6.30, Mon— Sat 

Dragons from Stock £175.00 

Telewriter word processor for the 

Dragon ,„, £49.95 

CTI CP80 dot matrix printer £299.00 

Seicosha GP 100A matrix printer £240,00 

Plus a tuil sefection of software for the Dragon 
includirtg the latest Microdeal releases 

Aii prices including VA J. 



COTSWOLD COMPUTERS 

THE DRAGON SPECIALISTS 

DRAGON 32 £1 69.50 

Price incFudes eighl free quality games and free soflware club 
membership (10% dJscouni off soltware) 

DRAGON 64 £21 9.50 

Price includes free offers as above 

DRAGOhf SINGLE DISK DRIVE ...,. £267.50 

Super Dust Covers for above ..„ ..„ £3.50 

Cotswold Computers 

5 Middle Row, Chrpping Norton 

Oxfordshire 

Tei; 0606 41232 or 737472 (evenings) 

Dragon Daia appointed service and fepsir dealer 



S.P. ELECTRONICS 

DRAGON 64.. £225.00 

DRAGON 32 , £175.00 

DISK DRIVE (Single and Dual) controller from ,.. £275.00 

JOYSTICKS , £14 95 

TELEWRITER WORD PROCESSOR £49.95 

MCP40 4-Co lour Pbtter Printer £149.00 

DELTA 10X Printer. £295.00 

CPeo Dot Matrix Printer £330 qo 

PRINTER CABLE (Centronics) £12.90 

Large s^leclton qf ngw Dragon Data. Salamander. MicrodQal sollwar« 

incljding; Space Shuttle, Cftrnposer, Frogger, e-tc. SAE rtx fr&6 list 

AH prices ificlvcis VAT, carriage extra 

S.P. aECTRONICS, 4B Limby Road, Hucknail, Notts 
(NDttlngham &40377) 

Official Dragon Servicer 




IMMEOIA TE DELIVER Y 



COMPUNTA 



RACING FORECASTER 
NEW NA TIONAL HUNT EDITiON 
A tried and tested program. 
Sirrple to use — no records to update. 
Tape contains data for races at any of 42 National Hunt 
courses. 

High success rate. 
DRAGON 32, SPECTRUM 4eK, TANDY COCO 32K, 

Only £5.50 inclusive 

Only available from: 

RED ROM DATA 

72 LAMBERT ROAD, GRIMSBY DN32 ONR 



50 Dragon User February 1984 



OPEN HLE FOR 
DRAGON USERS 

Send us your Dragon programs, beginning witl^ a generai description and then explaining how the program is constructed. 
Take care that the iistings are ail bug-f ree^ enclosing a cassette and, if poasibie, a printout, We pay E6 for each taug-ffee 
program published, double for the program of the month, if you tiave any problems with the listings, please send your 
queries to the appropriate author, Dragon User, 1 2-1 3 Little Newport Street, London WC2H 3L0, 




From D Newby in Derby 
THIS CHESS PROGRAM allows pawn 
promotion "En passant" can be per- 
formed by moving the pawn and then 
pladng a blank sqi/gre on th$ pawn which 
should be taken. 

Program notes 

50-160 Drawstheboard. 



170-220 


Sets up the strings of the' 


Varlables 






pieces. 


X, Y — Co-ordinates of cursor. 




230-460 


Draws pieces on the board . 


CX, CY 


References to old and 


new 


470-510 


Stores location of each piece 


PX, PY 


location of piece in memory. 




on the board. 


C{0,8) — 


Variable storing piece 


ocation 


550-640 


Moves cursor. 


Values for above variable: 




650-730 


Takes piece which is to be 


Black 




White 




moved. 


1 


Pawn 


7 


740-900 


Places pi^ece at new position. 


2 


Bishop 


a 


1010-1300 


Places piece at new position, 


3 


Knight 


9 


900-970 


Updates location of piece in 


4 


Rook 


to 




memor/ and checks if pawn 


5 


Queen 


11 




has reached back rank. 


6 


King 


12 


1 140-1 290 Piece for promotion of pawn, 





empty square 





3 

4 

5 

6 

10 

20 

30 

4C* 

50 



2 ' ** ** 

** CHESS BY ** 

** DAVID NEWBY (C)1983 ** 

** ** 

-tm-tt-int..^ ***•**■*(■«-#*****#***#**#* 

D 1 MPC (20,20) , CR ( 20 , 10 ) 

CLS : PR I MTS233 , " < PLEASE NA 1 T >" 

FriODE4, 1 sPCLSl 

COLORO,! 

FOR r=OTO I 76STEP22 
iO LINEd ,0)--a , 174) ,PSET 
70 LINE<0, r>~C176, I > ,PSeT 
SO NEX1I 
90 J=IO 

100 FORI^iOTP166STEP22 
110 IFR^O THENR^l:(30TOl30!EL3ER=0 
120 PAIWr (I »J) 
L30 NEXTl 

140 J=J+22! 1,FJ=1GA THEf^l70 
IbO IFR=1 THENR=0ELBER=1 
160 GOTO 100 

1 70 RK*= " U3R lU2Ri USL 2USR3D3R4U3;R3D3R4U3R3D5L2DaR 1 D2R 1 D3L. 16" 
1 SO KMt= "E3U1 E3U IN IG2L 1 H2U ie4BR2NR 1 BL2U 1E2U1 RADl R3D2R 1 D6R 1 D9L, L 7^' 
1 90 B*™ " E2R3U 1 R 1 U 1 hi5U3E5F5E 1 H4E2F7D3G5D 1 R 1 Dl R3F2L 1 7BE2R 13" 
20O PN*="E2R3UlRlUlHlUlElUlH2UlHlUlElUlE2RlElf;!2FiRlF2DlFlDlGlDlG2DlFlDlBlDlRLDlR 

3F2L17" 

23 Q?="U2L1U1R1U3L lUlRlU6HlUlHlUlHlR2D2R2DlFlDlFlDlFlD2RlU3eiU2ElFlD2FlD3RlU2EJ 

U1E1U1E1U1R2U2R2G1D1G1D1G1D6R1D1L1D3R1D1L1D2L14BU2R14BU4L14F1R1F2R1D1BR3U1R1E2R1 

El " 

220 KG*-"R5U1R6E1H1L6U1L5D1L^G1F1R6BU3BL4IJ3H1U1H1U1HLU1U1U1E2U1R3F1R1F2D1F1D2BU3 

L 1 U2L2U2R2U2R2D2R2D2L2D2L 1 EiD3U2E 1 U 1E2R IE 1R3D 1 FSDSQ IDIGIDIGI D3BU3L 15" 

230 F0RI=2T01S6STEP22 

240 IFPPOINT :l -J 152)^0 THENCOLDRI , 0: ELSECOLORO , 1 

250 DRAW"BM"+STR*( I > +" , t52'-+PNl^ 

260 PAiNl n-flO, 142) , 1 ,1 

270 NEXT I 

280 DRAW "Bri2 , J 74 " -f-RKLr 

290 PfilHT (12,164> , 1, 1 

300 COLORO, 1 



Continued on page 52 



February 1984 Dragon User 51 



310 

320 

330 

340 

350 

^hO 

370 

380 

390 

400 

410 

420 

430 

440 

450 

460 

470 

4S0 

490 

50CI 

!ilO 

520 

530 

540 

JJ4f^ 

550 

360 

570 

ao 

o90 

610 
620 
630 
640 
650 
6i0 
670 
690 
690 
700 



DRAW"Bril56, 174"+RK* 
DRAW"BMH2, 174"+^* 
COLOR 1 ^O 

DRAW"BM46,174"+B*:FA1NT(56,164> ,1,1 
DRAW"Eni34, 174"+t<N* 
PAlNra44,l64) ,1,1 

psErt mo, 160,0) 



BM24, 174"+^^N* 
+0* 



COLORO, 1 :DRAW' 
DRAW"eM70^ 174' 

C0LaRl,0:DRAW"BM96,L75"+KG*! PAINT (106, 160) , 1 , 1 ; DRAW " BR7BU5C0U2NH2NE2' 

FORI=1T0155STEP22 

GEKI ,133) -(1+20,153 J ,PC,G 

RUT < I , 23 ] - n +20 , 43 ) , PC , PRESET 

GET (I, 155) -a +20, 175) ,FC,G 

PUT(I,l>-<I+20,2n , PC, PRESET 

wexrr 

FORI^lTOS 

READP:C( t , 1>-P:C(I,2)=1 

F0RJ-3T06;C( I ,J)=0;NEXTJ 

READPP: C ( I , 7 ) =7 : c n , a ) =PP 

NEXTI 

X=eS; V-B8 

GET(1,45>- (21 ,65> ,CP,G 

SCREEN 1 ,0 

If^INKEYti IFI|:»"" THENSVO 

IFI*=CHR*(94) THEWY^Y~22: lFY<aO THENVs^O 

IFIf=CHRJ(10) THENY-y+22: IFV>=^154 THENY*154 

IFlt-CHft*(8> THEWX=X-22: IFX<=0 THENX^O 

IFI*-CHR*(9) rHEN)C-X + 22: IFX>»t54 THENX*154 

GET(X+1,V+1)- (K+21,Y+21) ,PC,G 

PUr<X+l ,Y+1)^(X+21 ,y+21> , PC, PRESET; PUT (X+1,Y+1) 

IFPEEK(345)=223 THENG0SUP650 

rFC(PX,PY>=l AND PY=B THENGOSUBl 1 40 

IFC<PX,PY)-7 AND PY-1 THENG0SUB1220 

6010545 

IFRT=1 THENRT-0:GOT0740 

IFXOO 1HENCX = X/22+lELSECX-l 

IFY< >0 THENCY=Y/22+lELS£CY=l 

ROUND200,1 

GET^X+1 , Y+l> 



(X+21 ,Y+21) ,PC,PSET 



CX+21,Y+21> ,PC,G 

IFPPOINr(X+l,Y+l)=l THENPUT(X+l,y+l> 
+21 , Y+2 U , CR , PRESET 
710 PUT C20a,0)- (220,20) ,PC,PSET 

RT=1 

RETURN 

COLDRO, 1 : DRAW"BM"+STR* ( X+2) +" 



(X+21 ,Y+: 



■1) ,CR,PSET:ELBEPUT(X+1 ,y+l)-(X 



720 
730 
740 
750 



'+STR*(y+20) 
IFC(CX,CY)=0 THENS0UND20, 1; I FPPOINT ( X + 1 , Y + 1 ) == 1 THENPUT ( X + 1 , ¥+ 1) - < X+21 
CR,PSETiG0T0910:ELSEPUT<X+l,Y+n-(X+2l,Y+21) ,CR, PRESET; G0T0910 
760 IFPPOlNTfX+l,Y+l>=0 1HEN990 
770 PUT(X+1 ^Y+1>-<X+21 , Y+2l> ,CR,PSET 

7B0 ONC(CX,Cy) 00T0790, 600,810,820, 830,840,850, 860,070,680, 890,900 
790 DRAWPNtj PAINT (X+10,Y+ 10) ,0,0: GOTO? 10 
BOO DRAWS*: PAINT (X+10,Y+10> ,0,0:GOT0910 

810 DRAWKNt:RAINrtX+10,Y+10) , 0,0: PSET < X+8 , Y+6, 1 > : 60TD910 
820 DRAWRK*:PAINT(X+10,Y+10) ,0,0jG0TQ910 

830 DRA14"BR2"+D*:PAINT(X+10,Y+10) ,0 ,0: PAINT ( X+10,Y+19) ,0,0!G0T0910 
S40 DRAW''BR6BDl" + t^::G*EPAINT(X+la,Y+6) , , 0: DRAW"&R7BU5C1U2NH2ME2'' :GOT09iO 
S50 DRAWPNf SG0T0910 
660 DRAWB*;Q0T0910 
970 DRAWKN:t:G0T0910 
B80 DRAWRK* : GOT 09 1 
690 DRAW"13R2"+Q*: G0T0910 
900 DRAWBR6BDl"-i^KG* 
910 IFXOO THeNPX^X/22+lELSEPX = l 
920 IFYOO THENPY=Y/22+lELSEPY=l 
930 IFCX=PX ANDCY=PY THEN950 
94 C ( PX , PY } =C ( CX , CY > : C ( CX , CY > =0 
950 PUT (200,0) -(220,20) ,CR,P5ET 
960 IFCCPX,PV)=1 AND PY-S THENGaT0ll40 
970 IFC(PX,FY) = ?' AND PY=1 THENG0T01220 



,v+2iy, 



52 Dragon User February 1904 



9B0 

1010 
1020 
1030 
1040 
lO^O 
1060 
1070 

loao 

1 090 

1 100 
1 1 10 

I 120 
1130 

I I 40 
1 1 SO 
1 160 
1170 
J IBO 
1 1 9Ct 
1200 
1210 
1220 
1230 
1240 
1250 
1260 
1270 
12B0 
1290 
1300 



1,1: DftftW ■■ BR 7SU5C0U2NH2NE2 " : GO T09 10 



RETURN ^'^O CUt..ORl,0 iOOO PUT C X+ 1 , V+ 1 >- "i X+2i , Y+21 5 , CR , PRESET 

[3NC(CX,CY> GOTO i 020, 1030, 1040,1050,1060, 1070,1090,1090,1100,1110,1120, 1130 

DRAWPNt;00T0<?10 

DRAWef ;eOTD91U 

DRAWKN^ : GOTG*? 1 

DRAWRK*:G0Ta910 

DRA^J"Bfi:2"+0*: G0T0910 

DRAW " BRiBD 1 " ■♦ KG::f i G0T09 lO 

DRAl'JPN^sPAIWrtX+lO, Y+10> , 1, 1:00X0910 

DRAVJB^iPf^lNT (X+10, Y+10 5 , U 1:60X0910 

DRAWKNr: PAINT {K + I0,V + 10} , 1 , 1 : PSET ( X+8 , V+6 , 0> s QOTQ910 

DRAWRKiiPAINX(:< + 10,Y+10) ,1,1 :G0r0910 

DRAW"BR2"+Q*:PAINr(X+lO,Y+10) , 1 , 1 : PAI NX ( X+ 10 , Y+17> ,1,1:30X0910 

DRAW"&R6BDl"' + KG*: PAINT ( X + IS, Y+6) , 

PE*-iNKEV* 

1FPE*="" I HEN 1140 

CX^PXsCV^PY 

lFPt:*="D" XHENC(CX , CY > =5: 60X0740 

If PE:*=''R" XHENC tCX,CY)=4:GDTD740 

IFPE^'^'-K'' THENC (CX , CY > -3: 0010740 

I FPE*=* " B " THENC ( CX , CV ) =2 : 00X0740 

GOTDl 140 

PEE^lNKEVf 

IFPE*=^"" XHEN1220 

CX-PX: CY=PV 

IPPE^="Q" THENC CCX,CY)-1 t i G0T0740 

THENC (CX,CY) 

THENC <CX,CY> 



=10:GOT0740 
'9SGOT0740 



IFPE*-"R" 

IFPE*-"K" 

IFPE*="B" 

GOTO 1220 

DATA4, 10,3,9^2,8,5, 11, 6, 12, 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 10 



1 HENC (CX , CY ) =8 : GOTG740 




From Edwin Aire} in Newcastle-uporhTyne 
THIS COLOURFUL AND short program 
generates random circles of all the colours 

available in high-res. 



10 PMODE 3J:SCREEN 

PCLS 
20 X=RND(250):Y=RND 

(190):S=RND(150) 



1,1; 30 FOR B=1 TO S:CIRCLE 
(X,Y), B, RND (8); 
SOUNDB, 1:NEXT 
40 GOTO 20 




to hi-fes, There is the added danger of 
blowing a tyre, This kills you but you are 
still free to complete in the n&xi race. 



From Simon Rundelf in PooSb. Dorset 
DRAG is a simulation of dragster racing in 
PMOOE 3, Use of the joysticks is not 
needed {I only put them in to give you a 
feel of actually racing if you feel that this is 
not necessary simply delete lines 59 to 

The race is calculated on the speeds 
reached after every 20th of a mile. This is 
displayed in lexj and then you are returned 



Program 


notes 


1-8 


Twlddley bils 


9-19 


instructions (if required) 


20-25 


Sets all variables required and 




a lew more besides 


26-36 


Draws the cars — GETs them 




into an array and draws the 




title (with animation too) 


37-45 


Draws the arena and all parts 




that do not need to be redrawn 




every time 



46-87 The main part — draws every- 

thing, PUTS it ail — checks if a 
tyre has burst or if it is time to 
show the speeds 

ee-108 The text screen showing of all 
speeds, times, distances, and 
the current world record hol- 
der 

109-114 Relays the bad news to you 

that one of the cars has blown 
up — and then carries on 

regardless 

The program, once set, will nun and ruri 
and run, till time immemorial. 



i REM************************** 

2 HEn DRAG 

3 REM************************** 

4 REM BY SIMON RUNDELL 

5 REK**********i f JI aMKMBKtHt a X XM l it 

6 REM (C) RUNDElJ-SaFT 19«3 

7 REM 4TK SEfT IVa*. 

B REM**< >■ * > »» »«* * K W f Wi n M W OTf 'W P ffW - 

9 CLS;PRlWTai2B, " WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW ABQUX 

10 INPUTAA«:IF Afl»«-Y" THEN 12 

11 IF AA»=--N" THEN 21 

12 CLSlPRINTffO, -drag fl 



THE GAME <Y/N»* 



SAME FOR THE DRAOON 32 



BY SIMON RUNDELL. 



Continued on 
pageSfi 



February 1984 Dragon User B3 



OPERATION 
GREAALIN 



A vary diff«r»nt gam« thot 
comb[n«» th« intf'tgu« of 
adv«ntur« Mrtth th« r«al timo, 
machine cod* «ps«d of orcad« 
(ictJon. Th» ployer must 
control nof ono, but EIGHT 
diff orant troopori , Mich with 
fhftir own choracter tfatuf, In 
th« toorch for the w»a|>oni 
thot will dottroy THE GREMLINS. 

DRAGON 
TREK 

Dragon Trek h o now 
implomontatlon of o 
clastic gomo, takfng 
full odvantogo of tho 
Dragons hl-rot 
graphics ond sound 
capobilitiot. Your 
■tarshfp'i Fnnpreitlve 
armamvnt is 
comprisod of high 
•norgy Photon 
Torpodbei and 
Phoiors. Both long 
and thoirt rongo 
■cannon (in full 
grephics) onablo you 
to trocit th« Klingoni 
ond your onboard 
computer will giv« 
you extra tactical 
focilitlos. Ai 
commander you wllJ 
hav« to us* strategy 
and cunning to outwit 
the enemy. 

THE RING 
OF DARKNESS 

BRITAIN'S No. 1 

ADVENTURE GAME 

FOR THE DRAGON 32 

IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR 

THE 4eK SPECTRUM AND ORIC 

THE RING OF DARKNESS is a complete 
role ploying adventure In hr*r*s 
grophics, feafurrng a detailed lond 
filled with towns. 30 dungeont, forests 
ond seot, and populated by kings, 
prfncestei, evil rangers ond other 
itronge creoturet. All versions or* 
identical with reipect to the 
adventvre. The Oric version Is 
recorded in fast mode only. Many 
hours of mystery end suspense 
awoit you in your quest to find 
The Ring Of Darkness. 

ORDER WITH CONFIDENCE: 
All titles in stock or* 
dl»potched by r»turn of poit. 

SEND SAE f OR OUR FREE 

CATALOGUE. 

Selected titles tire also 
avoii«ble from good ioftwar* 
outlets ond frem Boots. 





WINTERSOFT, 30, Uplands Park Road, 
Enfi«ld, MIddleaox EN2>PT. 

DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME 01-9*7 STK^ 



NOW AVAILABLE FROM W.H. SMITH 



lUPER IPY z^r 

Locate the secret Island hideaway of the mysterious 

megalomaniac Dr. Death. Follow his trail across 

continents, through complex puzzles, coded 

messages and 3-D mazes. Discover the entrance to his 

underground lair — but beware — even with your 

death-defying gadgets his evil henchmen may still 

^ win the day! 

Saving the world may 
tai<e some time — so we've 
Included a save' routine for 
-, _,. ^ ^., . \^- r- part-time secret agents! 

Credit Card Hotline \ .^ ^ f 3 

06286 6353T 




Only 
£6.50 



DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME — GENEROUS DISCOUNTS 



Adventurous Programs always wanted. Pfmsse send sample — generous cash fyayntents! 



RICHARD SHEPHERD SOFTWARE 

ELM HOUSE, 23-25 ELMSHOTT LANE, CIPPENHAM, SLOUGH, BERKS. TEL (06286) 6353 ? 



February 1984 Dragon User 55 



A 
1/ 



18 

19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 



CCJ RUNDELLSOFT 1993" 

13 PRINTai2B,- IN THIS, A QAME FOR TWO PLAYERS, YOU ARE THE DRIVER/PIT CREW OF 
FUNNY CAR (A SUB-SECTION OF DRAGSTER RACING CARS). THE OBJECTIS TO COVER THE 
4 OF A MILE BEFORE YOUR OPPONENT." 

14 PRINTiS384j- HIT [ •nt^r ] FOR MORE " ! INPUTAA* 

15 CLSlPRlNTBO, - THE LEFT JOYSTICK CONTROLS THE b 1 u* CAR . THE RIGHT JOYSTICK 

15 THE y»llow CAR. ON THE RESPECTIVE SIDES OF THE SCREEN ARE DlSTA 
NCE INDICATORS TO THE FLAG AND ALONG THE BOTTOMIS A GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF 
THE SPEED" 

16 PRINT-EVERY FEU SECONDS A PRINTOUT IS GIVEN OF THE SPEED, TIME AND REMAINI 
NG DISTANCE, FROM THESE THE LEAD IS CALCULATED. THE FIftSTONE PAST THE POST IS TH 
E WINNER" 

ly PRINT" HIT t»nt»r] ■ : INPUTAA* 
CLS:PRlNTeL2B, " good luck 
YOU'LL NEED IT ♦ ! " 

FOR nn-itoiooo;nextnn 

REM**#******VAR I ABLES******** 
DIMA f28, 40> :DIMB(2ej40) 
W**= 'GREEN- :HS-iBO 
S-4:S1»20:S2-130:U"30: V-100 
N5=110: N6-6S: DIST«0; KK-0 
LA=t9O:LB-110:RA»156!RB-llO 

REM**##****^^«^^♦#^^*«#**«♦^HH^* 

27 PM0DE3, 1 :SCREeNl,a:PCLS 

28 DRAW ■ BMl2e , 93 ) S9U1 0R2D2U4D2L7H2G2L2U2D4U2R2D10L2U2D4U2R2F2E2R2D2U4D2L2" 

29 PAINT < 126, 93) ,3,4 

30 QET(110,70) - ( 130, 110) , A,G 

31 PAINT (126^ 93) , 2, 4 : GET ( 1 1 O, 70) - ( 139, 1 lOJ , B, G 

32 FOR N6-63 TO 45 STEP-5 

33 DRAW''BM30,30SC4D20RlOE3U10H3NL10BM+2,+20tU20R10FSD5Q5NL10F5BM+20, +0U15ESR5F5D 
7NL15D8EM+20, +0U20R 1 5D3BD3NL3NR3D 1 OL 1 2 " 

34 PUT<N5,N&) - fN5+29,N6+40> , B, PSET 

35 SOUND* lQO-U6> , 1 

36 NEXTN6 
REM»**»#*DRAy ARENA********* 
PCLS 
FOR NN-170T0 30 STEP -30 

40 LINE (0,NN) ^ <20,NN) , PSET 

41 LINE(236,NN) -(236, NN) , PSET 

42 NEXT NN 

43 DATA ''C4U7RIF2E2D402H2L1* 

44 LINE(236,20) - (256,20) , PSET: LINE ( O, 201 - (20,20) ,PSET:READ A»; DRAW •BM240, 20| ■+A« 
:DRAW"BM10f 20) ■+A« 

45 REM*****THe FRAMEWORK******* 

46 DRAWC4" 

47 DRAW-CS- :LINE(0, 170) - ( 20 , t70-DIST) , PSET , BF : DRAW - C2 ': L INE ( 23B , 170>-(253, 170-Dl 
ST > , PSET , BF ; DRAW C4 " 

49 IF DIST-iSO THEN QOSUBSI 

LINE (0,0) -(256, 192) ,PSET,B 

LINE < 128,20) - (129. 172* , PSET 

LINE t20,ZO>-(236,i72) ,PSET,B 

DRAWBMlll, 1 IC2D9R18U9L1SC4- 
33 PAlNT(12e, 10) ,S,2 

54 PUT < LA, LB> - (LA+Z0, LB+40J , A, PSET 
35 PUT tRAjRB) - f RA + 29, RB + 40 ) ,B,PSET 

IF S-1 THEN 38 

IF RND(10)*5 THEN SOUNDl , 5! S-i J TIMER-0 

IF S»4 THEN 43 

Ll»J0YSTK(Oi :R1»J0YSTK(2) : 

IF LKIO THEN LA-LA-2 

IF Ll>SO THEN LA-LAtZ 

IF RKIO THEN RA-RA-2 

IF RL>30 THEN RA-RA+2 

LINE (SI, ieO)-(Sl,192) ,PSET:LINE(Sl-5,ie0r-(Sl-3, 192) , PRESET: LINE ( SI -4, 180 )- (6 
i-4, 192) , preset: LINE (SI -3, ISO) - (SI -3, 192) , PRESET 
65 LINE (62, 190)- ( S2 , 192> , PSET : LI NE ( S2-5, 190)- (S2-S, 192) , PRESET! LINE ( S2-4, 190> -(S 



37 

38 
39 



49 
50 
51 
32 



56 
57 
56 
59 
60 
61 
62 
63 
64 



56 Dragon User February 1984 



2-4, 1^2) , preset: LINE (S2-3, ISO) - (52-3, i92J , PRESET 
6,A REM'fr««««TYRE BURST#«#«««« 
67 IF RND(75) -25 THEN 68 ELSE 72 

66 IF RND(2)»1 THEN PUT (LA , LB J - ( LA + 30 , t_B + 30 ) , A, PSET 
A+30,RB+30) ,B,PSET:D»-" YELLOW 
69 PAINTa2G,5J ,2,2 
FOR a-itoiooo:nexta 

QOSUB109 

REM **#** M O V E ME NT* ********* 
S1-S1+RMD(3) ; IF S1>L23 THEM 
32-S2+RND(3) : IF SZ>233 THEN 



iD«-" BLUE -ELSE PUT (RA, RB ) - tR 



S1-12S 
S2-233 



70 

71 

72 

73 

74 

75 LINE (25, UJ - (235^U> , PSET J LINE i 25 , U-8) - <235,U-9) ^PRESET 

7A LINE(25,V>-(235,VJ » PSET: LINE ( 25 , V-©) - < 235, V-S J , PRESET 

77 U-U + 8:IF U>i73 THEN U-30: SOSUBSS: DlST-^DlST + 30 

7© V=-V + S:IF V>175 THEN U=30 : G0SUB8B: DIST«DI ET+30 

79 GOTO 45 

0O DATA "BM40,50f;C4UiOR5D5NL5F3D2BR5UiOR5D5NL5D5BR5U10NR5D10R5BR5UiONR5D5NR5D5R3 

BR15UIOR5D10NL5BR7H5NUSF5E5NU3G5BR8U10NR5D3NRSD3R5BR5U10R5D5NL5F3D2'* 

ei REM*****RACE STOP******** 

82 PAINT(i2e, 10) ,2,2 

63 LIN£(20, 105> - t236p 105) , PSET 

84 readb»:drawb» 

85 IF LB<RB THEN Wi«Wl+l ELSE W2-U2+1 

86 FOR NN-lT030aO:NexT 
67 restore: Q0T023 

ee REW*****INKEY«(1 >******♦** t SPEED PRINTOUT * ********** 

***♦**♦**♦*** 

99 S3-iSi*2) -40:S4-tS2*2) -260 

90 D3- (170-DIST} *3 ; D4- ( 170-IJIST ) *3 

91 IF S<3N<S3-S4)-+1 THEN D4-D4' {S3-S4> J ELSE D3-D3+ (S3-S4 J 

92 CLS; PRINTHO, " blui" car «INS:"|W1 

93 PRINTa32, "SPEED" ;S3) "M.P.H" 

94 PR INTa64, * TIME*! TIMER/ 1 28 t "SEC. * 

95 PRlNTe96, "DISTANCE" J D4I "YDS LEFT" 
94 IF LB<RB then PRINT<S128p " l»»d«r" 

97 PRINT«256," y»llow c«r WlNS:"jW2 
93 PRlNTffl2e8, "SPEED" IS4I "M.P-H" 

99 PR I NTS 320, "TIME" 1 TIMER/ 1 28 [ "SEC. " 

100 PRINT9352, "DISTANCE" !D3| "YDS LEFT" 

101 IF S3>HS THEN HS-S3I W»-"BLUE" 

102 IF S4>HS THEN HS"S4: W«- " YELLOW" 

103 IF RB<LB THEN PRINTa384," l»ad*r" 

104 PRINTa44e, "world r«cohd: " i HSl "BY " i W» 

105 SS-S3-S4:IF SQN(S3)-+1 THEN LB-LB- (S3/2> 

106 IF SON(SS}«-l THEN RB«RB+(S5/2> 

107 FOR NN»lT03000rNEXTNN 

108 PtlODE3, llSCREENlf O: RETURN 

109 REM*****TYRE BURST******** 

110 CLS 

111 PRlNTaO,-A TRADQEDY HAS OCCURRED-QNE OF THE TYRES ON THE -(D*!" CAft":PRrNT" 
HAS EXPLODED, SHATTERING THE CAR AND KILLING THE DRIVER INSTANTLY" 

112 print: PRINT" YET, IN HIS MEMORY HIS CREW WILL RACE ON LET US RACE AOAIN!" 

113 FOR N"1T07S00:NEXT 

114 restore: GOTO 23 




From C J Evans in Swansea 
WHEN THE National Eisleddfod was held 
in Swansea in August 1982, I wanted to 
produce a program to be used in the 
technology exhibition, and which would 



feature the recently launched Dfagon 32, 
Tiie program described here is an exten- 
sively revised version of the one which 
was actuaiiy used in the exhibition, 

The traditionaf wool i en mi its of Wales 
are a great attraction to tourists, and a 
large m-mber of interesting patterns can 
be woven on the old looms (although the 
designers tend to choose from a rather 
restricted set), Sn fact, a huge variety of 
patterns can be generated simply by 



assigning a va^ue to a binary number of 
length 2N, so that N of the bits are equal to 
one, and N are equal to zero. Write this 
number down 2N times, to form a 2N x 2N 
square, and then complement aM the bits in 
the Mth now whenever the Mth bit of the 
original number was a ^ero, Outside this 
basic square, repeat the pattern in both 
directions by reflection. 

Each zero or one represents an element 
of the pattern, with four horizontal >• 



February 1984 Dragon User 57 



and two as foreground or contrast A one mJ ^^'"1*^^^^ patterns use one back- 
-n the pattern represents a background ^f^J'^'^^^^^^^^^^^p^^'-ast colour to produce 



'n the pattern represents a background 
element, and thFS is obtamed by bringina 
the four background threads to the top and 
weaving them with each other, while the 
contrast threads are woven toqether 
separately underneath, 

thi;^hrr^'^' ^ ^^'"^ '" '^^ P^"*""" "^^ans SCREEN L'fZJ^nr^"!' '" ^^^"^^ "'^ generating a particular pattern, the ialuew 
hat the four contrast threads are brought m^^J % statement, and use the colour staiements of the program enable the data 

to the top. The practical importance of this ' ' ^"*^ ^ instead, but if ^ to be lasted Th*. ppimt "„_:_ 5.^'^ 

technique is that it aflows large blocks of 
sofid colours to be produced without the 
threads which are being used having to 



100 DIN fl(!i),B£ll)3J ' • 

110 PRINT'IELSH DOUBLE TftPESTRV HlJEfiV IN FOUR COLDdflS THE 

JJCKBROUNDCOiOUR IS USUALLY THE SAHE m W HDRIZONTfll m m 

TiEflL mms, m m be MfFmm if; 

120 PRJHT'&ESiRED. m OF THE CfflTBAST COLOlfRS NfiV UmiSE B 

£ THE SftNEtm THEN ALL Em FOR fl TW- COLQEJR PflTTERHJ , CHOC 

SEFROH THE SET IjSREEH, 2!^ELL0I, 3:BLUE 4flE0- 

no PRIWT'THE MTTEM MY BE NME IN Tlffl SIZES. M m NftMT TH 

HO INPUT Tf 

J 50 IF LEFT»fT»,U='Y- THEN N=li ELSE N=8 
160 PRINT-DO m IWNT A RAHm PftTT£RW 
i70 JHPIT 11 

190 rFLEFT»fT*,l)=-y THEH 280 

m PRIWT-IMPUT ft STRffie [)F'-|f/2f'2Efl(}S tt(D";N/Zi"ONES, IK m 

PDEfl; HO SPACES ORPUHCTlMlTION* 

200 INPUT T* 

210 FOR I=J TO N 

220 fUli^O 

?30 IF HlDI(Tf,l,Jf=-l'THEMn)::J 
?40 NEIT [ 

250 I«PUT'PICK 3 COLOURS FOR VERTICAL THRfA&S, BACK6RDIND FI 

Nil ;V1,V2,V3 

2iO IWT'PICK 3 COLOURS FOR HQfllZONTflL THREAJJS, BflCKEROUND FI 

RST 'jHI,H2,H3 

270 SOTO 330 

280 FDR l=m lf:flfn=0:fJE)[r I 
!?0 FOR J=l TO H/2 
300 II=flN0[N}:rFAfI])=J THEN300 
310 finil=l; «EIT J 

320Vi.RND(^J=V2=RND{4l:V3=fl«Df4hHI«RND<4)!H2=fiNJ3(4).HJ=^RI»Dfl) 
iVJ J '"^^'^ ^^™^ '^ ""^^f^"- ^^^^ ^"^ SCREEN BY PRESSIN6 

340 FOR IH TO 2000: KEIT I 
350 PUBDE MfSCREER I,OfPCLS 



ems use a different contrast colour over 
the middle haif of the pattern (fn orfe 
d^ec .on or both). The colours are chosen 
frorr^ the set green, yellow, brue and red ft 

^rai^, ^ ^'""^^'^ ^^"^'' 'o change the 
siL^MbEW Statement, and use n 

codes 5 6 7 and 8 instead, but if a 
completely tree choice from afl eight cof- 
oursjs required, the program would have 
saBen '^"""'"^'' '°' ^^^ low-resoJution 



Two s(zes of pattern are allowed for 
Other si^es could be programmed, but ft 

would not be so easy to fit copies of them 
on to the screen. The random fy-generaied 
option occasionally produces a very strik- 
ing pattern, using a set of data which one 
would not have expected to be any good ff 
you wish to make a note of the daia for 
generating a particular pattern, the last few 



to be listed. The print messages have 
been arranged to appear on the 3£-column 
Dragon display without any breaks in the 
words. This makes them Jook a little odd in 
the ffstjng. 




360 FM J=l TO SM^i STEP 4 

370 JI-N-fNT(ABSi«-J/4n 

390 FOR 1=1 TO BtN-J STEP 4 

390 II=N-IHTfflBSil*-I/4n 

*00 IF AlllJ+AfJUOJ THE« V'VIiMlifiOTO 430 

*10 IF J<2IN OR I>6tH THEN V=V2 B.SI V=V3 

420 IF SatH OR J>A« THEN H=H2 ELSE H=H3 

430 PSET(I,J,VhPSETfJ+2,J,H> 

440PSEr(r,J+2,H):PSET(I*2,J+2,V) 
450 NEJfT I J NEH i 

4i0 6ET [0,0)-ii3,U},D 
*?0 IF Pt-U THEN 510 
4flO POT f0,64)-fi3,127!,5 
490 PUT tM,0h[127,i3),B 
500 PUT fA4,i4J-(l27,I27},e 
510 PUT M2B,0)-(l?l,i3J,B 
520 PUT fO,12flJ-li3J9n,B 
530 PUT 112B,128l-(I9l,19n,B 
540 6ET !64,0!-(I27,63;,fl 
550 PUT a?2,0)-f255,43),B 
SiOPUT (MJ2B)-(127,191!,B 
570 PUT (H2j2BJ-f255,I9n,D 
5a0 SET (0,44)-(43,1271,B 
590 PUT (12B,A4J-(19I,127^B 
600 aET (M,64}'[127,127),B 
610 PUT n92,44)-{255,127M 
620 IF T!(KEV*="THE« 420 

*30 CLSrPRWBfl m mi A LIST OF THE DMA JUST USEB^ 
640 INPUT Tt <J^- u«u 

650 lFLEFT*a*,!)<>'y THEH 700 

660 IF N=B THEH PRlHT'SHflLL PATTERN* 

6?0 IF N-16 THEN PRir-LARSE PflTTEflN' 

6B0FQfl 1=1 TON: PRINT MUj: MEH I; PfilOT 

690 PRINT Vl;V2{V3,HliH2;H3 

70O PRINT'Fff-fiUN FOR NEW PATTERN'; EHD 




Store print utilHy 



From John Tierney in Bfyth 

WHEN investigating the contents of store. 

or developing machine code programs, I 
often find this utility program invaluable,' it 



displays or sends to the printer the con- 
tents of a range of bytes both in hexa- 
decimal and character form. 
In lines 70 to 120, the range and 



10 
30 
30 

m 

SO 



Print stofe in heicflrieciial 
and characters either tn 

the screen or to a printer. 

c John Tierney Nov 1983 



destination are set up using INPUTs 
Validation is limited to whether the first 
number is lower than the second, 
_ The loop controtling each ffne output is 
in lines 130 to 260, Within this FOR^ 
. ■ WeXT foop, there are two more FOR- 
, ,NEXT loops. The first gets the contents 
at ejght bytes in hexadecimal faJways two 
digits), and the second gets the contents of 
the same eight bytes in chafacter form 



BO ■ 

70 CLSJPRINTKfiO 

BO INPUT 'START, END" -OB 

90 IF fl)B ]>CN 70 

100 aS:PRlMT#260 



n 



58 Dragon User February 1984 





no INPUT "SCREEH(0),PRIMTER(2>';C 


200 PRIMT £-C/ "; 


120 IF COO AND C(^2 710 100 


210 IF C=2 T>e PRINT £-C/ "; 


130 FQfl X=fl TO B STEP S 


220 FOR Y= TO 7 


140 PRM £-C,^€l(*(l();• '; 


230 IF Pmit+mm or PEEK(X+VK32 TICN PR1MT£-C/.'; 


150 FDR Y=0 TO 7 


ELSE PRlNT£-C,CHRt(PaKa+¥)); 


160 IF PEEKU+YMIG T>ei PRINT t-C/0"; 


240 NEXT Y 


170 PRINT £'C,f€UEPE£K{m)); 


250 PRINT t< 


IBO IF C=2 T}€N PflINT l-C, ' '; 


2E0 NEXT I 


190 mil V 


270 £ND 




THIS progfam is designed lo let the user ftianipulated If you run out of space for 



Frum Kevin Murray in Edinburgh 



get to grips with ihe Dragon 32 s DRAW 
command and to help him dsBign and 
construct larger and more complex tnstruc- 
lion combinations. 

TIhe program stores the instructions in 



your jnstructiors sirrply change the DIM 
statement in tine 40 and extend the loops, 
etc where appropriate. The program has 
elementary error checking for typing mis- 
takes but this will not deal with syntax-type 



an array so that they can be easily errors (eg 40 instead of 04). 



■i' 



■iD*-- 



•■iw>H-iiK]«tje b7m 



19 REH DHAM COnPDSER 
2* F>CLEAn4m.EltR29aa 

4« DinDB*i3aa) 

31 CLBl INPUT -WHICH PtnOE DO VDU HIBH TD DHAM ]H-|A 

M FtlODE A.llPCLB 

T« INPUT'DO you MieH to HDRK ON A BTRING BTDRED ON Trir>E <y-N) 

H IF «-"P*- THEM I3« 

9f INPUT'MHAT ]B TIE HWC CF TTC BTRING DM TAPE CFILE NMCI ■|BMirH3rTen ONiALDI 

a QNiPniNT" PoetriOH the tflre wkd pwehb ewter -n^H wieaa plav qw T>e wcot 

DEn"i Ih#>LrT'A*iMJDrO CFP 

IB* OPEN- 1 ',*-], ON* 

IIB Fnt L-I TD 3*0 

]2« IHtlT •-] iDSftL) 

13a IF EDFt-t) T)Ch I4« ■ ELK iCXT L 

14a CLD8E •-! tI]fi>.<LiOD8UB A7« 

13C CLBlPRIPirr' The KEYS OPERATE: DHlAH Afl IM ThEhlANUM. > TIE EXTRA HEVfl 1 -CtPMXJ ,C 

(XeoH 1 , C ENTER ] KE'Ve, [SPACE:] DELfTEB TNE LAST EMTRYi LCLCMt] PIBPLnyS IX gTAI 

MB. [ENTER] IHSTPIUCTe THE CdHPtrTER ra EMAU ThE CMIWIBi EMTEHCD' 

lAB Fon jwi TO sacciNEicT n 

17« aCHEEh 1 , 1 

IBM mvlDKEVti IFD«-"'-THeN m 

19C IF nGC(D4)-i3 ncM ana 

Zaa IF ASCi|IH}-32 THEN 271 

Zie IF AaC<D*)-]Z T>EN ?» 

22(1 IF IHSTftf] ,CD«,D«)>a ThEN IBfl 

2» DiS'-DGf+MtBOTlOlSa 

34a Dn4Be*tOfr-&S+iiDB«(De)-DB*iDe«*- 
29a IF DB-aaa then y>^ 

itM eaTDieai 

27B IFDB~a TWN 1M)EL« f0.fl I DB« I DS) ■ 

2Ba ecTDiea 

2?« BCHEEN a, Br CU 

3aa PNiNTa-tiA,"-) 

3ia FDR L-1 TQ Dfii PRTIITI»C<Li I * " I I NEKT LtPRTHT 

iza ihcuT-DQ you hish tq oomtinue Eta^tnitKafvmiHB ci] ek edit [2: oir snaHeoH t«^ 

E t3J OR P«IMT OUT C4J TIOBTRIHQ OR 0« THE fKamf*\ CSl'lK 

33B IF 9C<1 OR BC>3 THEN 33* 

34* SOIHTfaCJiiQN BC OOTti ]?»,34a,3M,6«a,7ia 

39B REM CAM ' T SET HEItC . , , 1 HOPE ' 

3AB PRIMT- TD EDIT THE STHIW EPTTEfl THE NUHBER DF TW: CniHC CE.a.23 Corrnp 

ondlng tD.B^y.DS) -AHO THEN J I tfl ECITED on DELETEB" 

37a INPUT'NHICH C OWW WD'iCC 

3Sa PRIKT'-IS -'fDS«(CC) p " THE HIBHT CfMHAMff tV-Ni"| 

3f« IIWT WHIPRIKT 

41* IF HH»--T- THEN 4iaiELBE 37B 

4ia LINE INPirr-ENTen- the hEU Cai fMK P GR Xtt TO DELETE " | NIM 

42fl IF HC*--XXX- THEN DH* ( EC J - " " 1 ELBE SS*fOC)«MD« 

43a QOSUe fa7B 

44a BQTD 328 

49a REM CAN'T BET IQtC 

4Aia REM DR l-)EPtE , 

470 REM OR HERE I HCFE 

4M BDTO 3Za 

49* REM EinVE DATA BTRIHB ON TAPE - 

3H INPUT-HHAT 18 THE WKME UNDER WHICH THIS IS TO BE STIQ Wg P ■ | B**» 

B19 IF WW--- THEW SUB 

3ZC HOTOR DNinUCID Oi* 

93a INPuT'Pl.EneE posit IWI T\K TftPE AND PNEBG ENTER'p ZZtiftUDIQ OFF 

94a PniNT''P1,E'ttf PneSS PLAV AMD RECORD CM THE TAPE RECCKDEH AMD T>1CN HIT AHT HE 

y"iIhFUT KEiiOPEN-O-i^-liffW 

39a FOR L-1 TO DG 

9A« PniNTIt-l.Daf (LJ 

57B WtT L 

90* CLOSE t-l 

SV* BOTQ Til 

i»m REM PRINT FHE SiniHS 

*ia FDR L-1 TO pg 

«2B PRIHT*-2,D»iLI|" "| 

«3B NEXT L 

h^ PRipirra-2 

«9« eora 7ii 

*Aa REM DRAM THE HHDLE BTRIh4B 

A7B PCLBlFDR L- 1 TD Dfl 

baa DRAM DS«(L) 

A4« NEVTL 

7W RETUm 

71B END 

7Sm RSH •^MHtri^TED UfllNQ T>E EPflDH RIC-B* PRUiTTER IN ADUBLE flTRIKE 44) ENPtWtlBtZE 

D HOOeB**** 

73B REM ■■■■t>ii nm « mnnm ii »*»»»»»»»»»»»«i »«■■■■»«■»■■■ »#>i n nt 

74B REN ■••♦••**••••• WIITTEN Bf K. HUHRAY t9/B/B3 »>■»■«■•««« 

798 RETT ■■■*«■■ ■■■jj mm «t m «#»#»i n iiiii nn i #>«^n,.»» 



February 1984 Dragon User 59 



^ 



cjb 



^^ 



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M & J SOFTWARE 

34 Grays Close, Scholar Green 
Stoke-on-Trent ST7 3LJ, Tel: (0782) S17876 



60 Dragon Ussr February 1 964 



\t you've got a technical question or problem write ta Brian 

Cadge, Dragon Answers, Dragon User, 12/13 Little Newport 

Street, London WCan 3LD. 



Dragon Answers 



Interfacing 
recorders 

1 AM liaving ditticuity in deciding 
what the pins are for the tape 
socket, f tried to wine- up a 5-pin 
DIM plug to two 6mm diameter 
Jack plugs [ear and mil^e) witli no 
success. Can you lieip? 

M Clements . 
Uckfieia. 

rET ANOTHER letter about the 
cassette interface! There have 
been many peaple asking for a 
reccmmanried cassette recorder 
or details of the cassette socket 
lor cofinecling special recarders 
— even reel to reel recorcters in 
one case! 

The connection is via a stan- 
dard 5-pln DIN plug which is 
easily oblairable The pin cc^n- 
nections are as follows: 
Pin 1 — Remote control (for 

motor an.ofl}- 
Pin 2 — Ground (used as one 

connection for both 

Ear and Mic). 
Pin 3 — Remote control 
Pin 4 — Cassette input. 
Pin 5 — Cassette output. 

As both input and output use 
Ihe same common grDund con- 
nectinr, some recorders will 
cause feedback if hoLh Ear and 
Mic feads are plugged in 
together. To avoid this, have 
urfJy one at these plugged in at 
any one time. 

Printing 
cheaply 

I WOULD lii^e to add a printer to 
my set-up, but i cannot afford or 
justify somettiing like tl^e Epson. 
Ttie otjvious choice would be an 
Amber but at ESQ plus I still find 
this prrce rather high. 

i was wondering, is it possible 
to run the Sfndair printer on my 
Dragon? J know the plugs won't 
fit the socket on uny computer, 
but could you t@ll me, if it is 
possible, what adaptors or leads I 
will need, where can f get them 
and how much should I expect to 
pay for them? 

K Nicholas, 
Wafitage. 
A LOT Of readers seem to urant to 
run a Sinclair printer from their 
Dragons, the great advantage of 
this little printer tieing. of 
course, its cost. The disadvan- 
tage, hnwever, is that it will not 
connect directly with any 




machine other than Sincfairs. 

What is needed Is a special 
interface ufhich will convert the 
ASCtI codes from the Dragon's 
printer output to the dot arrange- 
menis for the ZX printer. At last, 
a company is producing just 
such an interface — Prirtterface 
2 is available For £29.95 from 
Microtanic Computer Systems 
Ltd, 16 Upland Road, London 
SE2Z (phone 01-693 1137), This 
will give you a 43-character line 
output as well as the itsual 
hi-res graphics that the printer 
offers. 



Proper 
timing 



WHAT IS tfie proper way of using 

the Dragon's timer for achieving a 

delay? I haive iried the following 

which seems to work, but is there 

a better way? 

10 TIMERS 

20 T = TIMER 

30 IFT-XTHEN (FUNCTION) 

40 GOTO 20 

This produces a delay of 10 to 11 

seconds if X = 500. 

Is there an accurate figure as to 
how many times (he timer 
"pulses" per second- 

0. Bateman. 
Royston. 
Herts. 
TffE MOST obvious use for the 
timer function is for timing, 
rather than for creating delays 
The timer value is updated by 
the interrupt routine, which 
occurs exactly 50 times a 
second. Therefore, to get the 
time In seconds use TIMER 50. 
As the maximum value of Timer 
is 6553S, this gives accurate 
values for up to 21 minutes 
before looping around to zero 
again, but you won't want 21- 
minute delay loops anyway I 

A line such as thai below is a 



good way of using the timer for a 

delay (S is the number of 

seconds which the program 

pauses for). 

ID TIMER = 

2D IF TIMER < S * 50 THEN ?0 

30 rest of program 



Lower 
cose 



I AM writing a certain application 
program in which it would be 
desirable to force lower case char- 
acter input. I wondered if there 
was some way in which Shift 
could be achieved from within a 
program wittiout manual opera- 
tion? At present I use J N KEYS and 
translate to lower case, 

NBrowtJe. 

Portsmouth. 

Hants. 

AS SHIFT is supposeil to 
generate the ASCII code ^B, the 
obvious answer would be 1o use 
?CHRS(18| to toggle between 
upper and lowef case. Unfortu- 
nately, this doesn t work, of 
course. There is a simple PQKE 
which can be used to control 
alpha lock — location 329. Use 
the following in your program: 
POKE 329, 255 for upper case 
POKE 329 for lower case 

If you poke any other number 
(1-254} in this address, you 
effectively disable lower case 
entry. 

Scrolling 
sideways 

I WOULD like to know 11 it is 
possible to make everything on 
the high resolution screen scroll 
sideways, and if so. how? 

f have seen short machine code 
subroutines to do this with the 
text screen, and to scroll Ihe 
hi-res screen up and down, but 



never from side to side. This 
would help me greatly in the 
programming of my Dragon. 

r Harvey. 
Bednal. 
Biffrrlngham. 
IF VOU want to stick to Basic the 
only way to scrall the hi-res 
screen sideways Is to put the 
whole screen in an array and use 
GET and PUT to move it around, 
for example: 
ID PMODE 4,1:C0L0R 

fl,1:PCLS:SCREEN ^^ 
20 LINE([],D) (255,1 91 ),PSET,B 
3D DIM A(123a):GET(0,0)- 

(254,191),A,G 
40 PUT(1,0|-(255,191),A,PSET 
50 GOTO 50 

If you try this you Will see thai 
II does worjc. hut is rather slow. 
You could speed it up by not 
scrolling the whole screen, or 
scrolling more than one pixel at 
a time. For most purposes this 
should be good enough, if, 
ItDwever, it is stilf not fast 
enough then you will have to 
dabble in machine code. 



No Joy 
on gomes 

I HAVE a Dragon. 32 and I am 
trying to write my owrii games, 
but I can't do so with joysticks. I 
know the bit about A=JOYSTK 
(0)or (l)or(2) or (3). butt can't 
figure out how to use it. 

Could you please telJ me how 
it's done? 

John Cotso, 
London W7. 
AS THE Oragon basic manual 
made such a mess of trying to 
explain Ihe use of the JOYSTK 
command, it's not surprising 
that you are confused. 

The command A^JOYSTK(n) 
will give A a value of between I) 
and 63. n=Q for the letl-right uf 
the RIQMT joystick and n=1 for 
the up-down of the RIGHT joy- 
stick, similarly n-2 and 3 for 
the LEFT joystick. A value of B 
indicates lar ieli or all Ihe way 
up, and a value of 63 indicates 
lar right or all the way down. 

A further complication is that 
the values of the joystick read- 
ings are only updated when n' Is 
a 2ero. therefore someiimes you 
will need to put the value of 
jaYSTK(O) into a dummy vari- 
able just 1o c[et the correct read- 
ing for the other values. 

There is no command for 
reading the fire button, this is 
done with PEEK(B5ZSa) and is 
quite simple. 



February 1984 Dragori User 61 



^TT^rr^/^^ 




Wicro Computer Software & Accessories 



iirriifc 




ini 






DRAGON 32 



introducing a HEW program (or the Trojan Light Pen. 
This new ADVANCED program includes ihe tallowing 
graphics 'acilities; 

* Draw Box 
+ Draw Circle 
+ Draw Line 

Draw Picture 

Colour Fill Designated Areas 

Save and load piclures to and 'rom (ape 

All in Hi- Res Screen m any of four colours. 

Tfie following funcliorts sm for use on I fie Text Screen: 

* Dal a entry and processing 

* Menu selection and control 

* Games playing — the fasciriating game oF NIM 
included on cassett? 

This is a tirst-claas program wtiicfi gives flints and tips on 
JioiA/ lo wnle programs for the pen, Ideal for many 
educational uses. 

A TOP QUALITY PEN PLUS A FIRST-CLASS PROG- 
RAM FOR ONLY C1 1,50 including VAT. 
THE BEST PEN PACKAGE AVAILABLE 

Dealer enquiries welcome. 
Send cfieque or PO to' 
DepL D.U.3 



Trojan Products, 166 Derlwyn 

Dunvant, Swansea 

SA2 7PF. Tel: (0792) 205491 



DRAGON DATA DISK DRIVES 




IN STOCK NOW 

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DESPATCH 

SINGLE DRIVE £275 inc, 
DUAL DRIVE £475 inc. 

Complete with: DOS, Power Supply and Manual 
DRAGON 64 £225 inc 
DRAGON 32 PACKAGE 

Computer, Compatible Cassette Recorder, 
Joysticks Et99,50 inc 

ONLY WHILE STOCKS LAST 
DRAGON JOYSTICKS E1 5-50 mc p&p 

Cheques and POs to- 

JAY-DEE COMMUNICATIONS 

ia2A WATER STREET 
PQRTTALBOT, S.WALES 



Cardholder s Hotline 
(0639) 895736 (24 floursj 

Large selealian of software available 
CBEDIT DETAILS ON REQUEST 



.\.Kn:KH'.\> 

FXTRFSS 



E3 




SUNSHINE 



Dragon J-i 



The best books for the 

Dragon 32 








The Working Dragon 32 

A library of proctical 5 jb-routines and 

programs, .:. .■ 

• 'There cfeorfy is a need for books of 
this kind wh^cl^ provide more than {ust 
games" — Practical Coiyiputing 

SepI 1983 

* H'i a good one" Personof Compufer 
^fews, Moy 20 1983 

The Dragon Trainer 

Written as a combined manual ond 
beginners course On the power of 
Dragon Basic, It is aimed ot tfie beginner 
and Qssuiries no previous ocperience of 
computing. ■■■■< .. ■■'.L,,.;ijy...w _, 



Suns^^*"® 



Cruising 

Qjltk thinking 

required IQ 

master thi^f^igh 
,peed chase gorr^e. 



Look out for fhe Sunshine 
rdnge in W.H. Smith's, 
Boots, Jofin Menzies, 
other leading retoil chains 

and through our national 
network of bookshops 
and specialist stores- 

Dsaier enquiries: 
01 734 3^ S4. 



Dragon 32 Gomes Moster 

Learn how to write your own top levef 
games, i:iRn 6"ao«iv:- ■ 
• "if you can'f write a half way decent 
game after this *hen ft will be down to 
your own Sack of fmagmoffon. S woufd 
recommend ihe Brains book os ihe best 
of this selection " Which Micro — Sept ^5 

Advonced Sounds & Graphics 
for the Drogon Computer 

Al I the major aspects of the sound and 
gmphics eopabiiities of this machine are 
covered in extensive detail, -k l; MiMoa 



* * * 




^l*"*?"** 



wwt<^t, 



9"***.! 



6 6 




PleflsB ^end me 



II — ■ The Working Dragon 32 
L , QtES.'JSeoch 

II — I The Dragon Trainer 
1—1 at£S.'?5^fl<:h 

I enclose cheque postci I arde ^ 

I to Sunshine Book?: 12 13 little Newport Si., London W<:2R31D^ 

Ncim,e 



n Drogon 32 Gdimes 
Master a 1 £5.95 each 
□ Advanced Sound & 
Graphics ot £:S-95 each 

I I Cruising ot Ei.flS eoch 



nnod^ piifi^dble 



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Addr 



Signature. 



We con normaii'y deliver in 4 5 doys. 



62 Dragon User February 1 984 



"ADVENTURES INTOIMAGINA 

AVAILABLE FROM W.H. SMITH. JOHN MENZIES, BOOTS 



AND ALL LEADtHC COMPUTER STORES 




A spme chiMing adventure ... enter vra the dungeons .. navigate your 
way through 500 3-D rooms .. survive the swooping vampire bats ., 
reach the terrifying top . . confront and kilf Count Kreepie, ridding the 

world of this Transylvanian Terror, 

Csn you survive the Top of the Tower? £6.50. 



IT' 



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RICHAR[>6iWEPHERD 
SOFTWARE 

NEW DEALERS WELCOME — RIMG JOHN SALTHOUSE ON 06286 6353 1 



Aw pfioqrdmi firt ioU ujb*fr m Thf cortinon (fvn [Iwyinay nai, dv jvay oH trade qc otf>ni*isr. &r ifr-l. nihtvi ijiji. rrwiN r» :jrr>(Wwitf ciKularM witioui mf *rine<n permiijio" ^r (?H:n:ird y^pufrd 



Classified 



DUST COVERS 



it DRAGON 32 & 64 • 

made-lo-measyre- irt qudli^y natural viryj 
wnn CMl-flu!S tor termiiHls anrt leads. 
Jyst seiTd £2,95 I no stamp requirecl'i to 

ALLEN ENTERPfllSES 
Freepost, Luton LUZ 8BR 



DRAWING PROGRAM designed by 
ariisi, biadK and white, requires jo^- 
[iek. Ofives HX90. Copy ol mst/uclions 
Ei.10. cassede £9.50. K. Garweii, 5 
College fload. Ai&agei . StoJ^e-ofi-Trerrt 
ST7 2SS 



SOFTWARE STOCK CLEARAMCE, 

a^mosl hal(-price. Tapes' fnom les<f- 
i(tg sollware houses. Tel: Cheslerfield 
2d2-$ for information-, 



DRAGON PROGRAMS. All listings la 
Ihis magazine supplied on quality cas- 
seXe. Indivtdualiy checked for csoirecl 
loading and (ully doconiented. Send 
chequ&'PO lor only £4.95 lor PLS 
Software Services, ia Snows Hil(, 
Chedgrave, Norfolk NH14 6HV, 



FflEE SOFTWARE EXCHANGE 

Send any Dragon cassette with insiruc- 
ticjns and 75p p^p m exchange (or a 
sifnitar eassellH. O'ifer 50 'programs m 
stock (Drajgaon Data. Micrtx^eaJ. Sala- 
mander, etc.). SAE tor l(st and details: 
T. Mohsan. £4 (fving Place. Blackhurrt 
Be3 6LR. 



COPVCODE will copy machme prog- 
rarns lor inslructions. Send 7Cip ancJ 
3AE to Copycode, If7 Doncaster 
Lane, ^/ViKdiands. Near Doncasler. 
Vofkstiire. 

COMPUTER PROGRAMS copied 
{cassette based only). Prin^ted inlay 
cafds SLipplied it required Minimum 
order 10 cassettes. Price from 44p. 
Tel: WG Copies (MfG Recordings). 
BurnlwQod 75375 (24-hotjr answeriot) 
service). 



PRINT THAT PiCTURE Dragon tp 

Acorn-Seikosha GP100A, Tandy 100. 
200 (asl machine code, mree siies of 
print, colour shading, menu driven, £5. 
Diaassembler for Dragon to screen O'r 
prinfer. Full disasserribly intruding in- 
tfirectiors. ASCII and Hex,. £S. A.S.P . 6 
Monks Leys Terrace, LinctjPn LN2 5JG 



GtOHK RADIO SOFTWARE 

DFAGON32/e* 

TAPECARTRl[>aEANDD<SK 

Rrry TFUHSCEIVE, Any Hiud rata, type 

atiesd esc rjeeas no Tli fDr rtceplion 

MORS£ TFlANSCErVi. D»CDdas jnd sands 

riarsalo 150 ifipffl. 

MORSE TLITIOR- Am/ speed, mf spaeii)B. 

Pure tuies 

AMTQH SrSlEH. Avsilatile vm. 

Sehb largs SAE lor lull delails 3T\a Mltware' 

tiarflivart if a lisi. 

GnaSVENOR SOFTWAI^E(D| 

SJ0rotv(rn4r Road. SMiOrd 
E, SuECflx BN25 268 



EPHOH PRQaFC^MNER ta niDSt angle 
EUPPT epiDins IrDiri IK ID 32K tiytBJ. 
Powerful f'll iriDv?. e:ijmine. cli4n{]s. atpf. 

vMify. pruarani. tassttie sartmm luMtttij 
einirfull IIKlCuini!nra[iDi> 

ETJ.JJ.withW ACE £89,951 
MA;CE EDITOn ASSEMBLEIH HDNITDR 
cahndge with SD-pags m^nujl tor inscii.ne 
Bragrsmmng ttie «3SV aim pnolessional h^ay 

£Z9.9S 
MACffIHE PRtlGRAMMERS PACK Hintainj 
tha data ioekMi lor jtif Drajon'j faur inim 
iCs (6809, &431 661? anil 6BE3;- Oijer M 

pages, or data. piu:i a btxa reference ii^nd 

E3.S5 
DFUGBUC MCldlTafl AND □ISASSEMBLfH 

csisele tl2.S5 

M09 COMPANION mictimE f&(M«nce bD&fc 

ir/M James £M9 

SAC dnitgs datails df pver 7ti iten^ for your 

t)r9goit 

EITEK, £9 Ptrtitldt A«4iiije 

Unldhlinilllin. Sirsssx B«I17 ebc 



KJKTVjrOKA^^ 









t fllOL:Fi'1''-tl lo tU«, JWHItJHST, 
STRATFf)RD, 1 ONDON ElSi^lS 



BrsBfht ncvi II r» mbg votir Pr^gmi 
Him lour ii«w {jamas iittn fiitinitlt 

Dapth Charge jplus JDfilickl 

Sp»Et Atiteiciiilus Itnfstkli] 

Cliy Bdmhar 

ttamllja;; Slar^hips fplus jnySilicli^ 

£S,9S tatH luc p&r 
5|]«cI>bI offer: Any 2 gamas £B 

Che^jijciiiu PDi.iayatjie to Hietoselt, 11 
SliBfl«iiil!Ct«sg. Wiclriord. E«tx SS11 «LU 



GRAPHIPRINT high resolLtion print 
fOti tine allows normal use ol Basic, text 
in any cclour, double heigtil, widtti. etc. 
User manual included, £9.95. Eclit-32 
program, ieitt and lile editor includes 
reolace, kill, search, copy, insert and 
many other features, User manual in- 
cluded, E9.95 SAE tor games and 
uijlities list lo. Wiifow Softih'are, Willow 
Bank, llston, Swansea SA2 7LD. 



CASSETTE LEAD ADAPTER to cura 
those l-O errors wtien savmg on your 
Dfa^n. Onily £3.45. from Compton 
Computers, 9 Stockhiii Road, Ctui- 
comptBh, Somerset. 



GRAPHfC WRITER, The first Dragon 
32 program whicti writes its own pro- 
grams. Gt^phie Writer will wrrle a tiasic 
progiarn from graphic disptays you 
cre,ate. IrrtraduciQry price £4.50. Wriie 
to: BR i LS, 1 10 Cumbettaiid Street, 
Darlingion, Co. Durham. 



EDUCATIONAL TRADING games. 
"Martetday' will entsfiam sister, wife, 
grandmoifier, superb value C3.50. 
"Lamonade", similar Spectrum Can- 
dyfloss, £3.50, £5 pair. I. Bulcher. 20 
Healon Ciose, Carieton, Blackpoof 
FYSTTV 



DRAGON HI-flES TEXT WRITER. In- 
corporsile it in your own pnwjrams, on 
cassetia, £3,95 including pSp C.M.C. 
Sofiware.. 3' IB Braithwaite Road, 
Sparfcbroofc, Birmingham B1 T 1LB. 



Here's my classified ad. 

{Please write your copy fn capital letters on the lines below.) 



ti.cm 

5.1 80_ 
(3.60 



tg.'W 



t^20 



EO.'KI 



g1.30 



tioo 



fa.flo 



t.'s.eD 



i:4.4fl 



tOBO 



t14D 



t?.£D 



s;3.oo 



^3,80 



&3S0 



JlgO 



CZ40 



SMSi 



t*m 



PleasB conlinue on b ^eparaif she&l af pnper 



(make this words, at 20p per word so I enclose 



Name 

Address 



Telephone, 



Please cut out and send this form to: Classified Departtnent, Dragon User. 1 2-1 3 Little Newport Street, London 



64 Dragon User February 1984 



Classified 



DRAGON 32, B«lvue Ca&tid Adv&n- 
lure, £S. Find the (reasures without 
^nmg caught in the Iraps. But drsl Iry 
to find the way into the castle. Very 
good sCHjnd ei1e<;(s, Wiii la^e days or 
t^e^ks la ia\\/s. II you 9^1 sluck. our 
customer service department will help 
you win. Send PO. cheques to. K. Pro- 
cfucts, 10 Piflrmont Road, London 
SE22 OLN. 



DFTAGON aas* SOFTWARE 
Gaires PJtk D,ne- 1 PokeMFaaCurestuli colour 
Ni-rre Qripfiicsj . 2 iHingman |g real flarfit lor 
all ths lamiljf lealyjisE hili fiftloihr Ht-rss 

lirtpiMsj. ivih m cnt Itpf , , ptict 
fcl-SB- (isimg ser^ict prirf Sip par linG 
Minimuri! cfia'{ie £1 QD Send iHeguas.-PiO-s 
b>: P. PtrHt, It Poptir cnsEiri, W«tl 
tf«*1latili4Eai|£-HH, 



An attractive dual cover, 
custom-made to fit your 
Dragon, Colour co- 
ordinaied labric exactly 
matclies the case colour. 
11 ni shed off with a red taped 
edge and screen printed 
with Dragon Looi^s super 

Oniy £3.50 inc p/p 
COTSWOLD COVERS 

6 MIDDLE HOW fFIFST FLQOR] 

CHIPPING HOPTON. OXON 

Te): 0608 412323 

{tor tf^de discount d«tail5) 



COMPUTER 

CORRESPONDENCE 

COURSES 



A comolsia cEHjrse in &J\3IC program- 
ming Kshlcti 13 desngriftd specifically nor 
tho DRAGON rtijcno-computer, Jt in- 
cluHJes w-ord processirtg, lila- 
managgfTient, s1CM3<-ccinrroJ, gsmes, ant) 
educarronal appliCa[i[jin£. SuHaOle tor ttie 
complelfr beginner, hotjbvisl, leacfi&r, 
and' buSinsss per^ii 

Coat at Courtt 

ns-so nncn 

P1«h;e per fJladule CJ,45 (unci) 
fij! lul} il6ti!l\i irr.'lle esK-insing .5ae ^n 

CDMPUTEF{ t^GRRESPDNDENCE 
COUFSES 

(Dept U) UDurcltway, West llsley 

Nr Niwburv BERKS Rli1<5 DAh 

Tel: m32&] 336 



''COLOUR FANTASY" 
(for Dragon 32) 

A laiUSy fx1ravagn.i;i oi {^onrrnuously 
Changing imin^ ini nierjirtg colours, wilti 

sour^ and muSiC. h rtiuEl lar anijl;., de^ig- 

neri., Or lor body in\f mmd reljitalion A 

12-part menu pi intricate. Hypnolic oi simple 

designs, ush otmirDll^. 

WIN CO LTD 

La^ne* Ho us* 

5S-5Ze WniPord Way. Mill Hill 

London NW7 HfiS 



DRAGON W-FUTER. Mix text and hr- 
res Different sizes, coioiirs. angles. A 
sutj-routine to t?egin all youi* programs. 
E3.50. SaiTiyh Software, 9 EariJwells 
Drive. Cults. Aberdeen 



JOYSTICKS 

DRAGON 
JOY STICKS 

FULLV PROPORTIONAL 

WITH FIRE BUTTON 

iSJow only £12.95 

per pair incl. 

■ fi p&p 

PERITRON 

21 WOODHOUSE ROAD 
LONDON NI 2 SEN 



HOUSE CONTENTS insurance pro- 
gram, menu ijnv-en, ideal for in^Iex 
linked policies. Cassetie Ca. DSF Soft- 
ware, es AbboitsJergh Rosd. South 
Woodham Ferr-erS, Essex CM3 5SS. 



CENTRONICS LEADS for the Dra- 
gon. 1.5m iomg 10 lit all standard 
Centronics interlace printers, 
£-13.50 iociusive VAT, postage. 
Quicfc despatch Cheques pavable 
to- High T«ri Developrnenis. 27 
Quantock Road. Weston-super- 
Mare. Avon BS23 40 D. 



DRAGON Hf-RES text writer, incorpo- 
rate il iri yOiLir Owi> programs £2.60 inc 

pip. * on casseiie * — Cf^lC SoUware, 
2 18 Braithwaite Road, Sparbrook. 
Birfningham B1 1 ILB 



HAPPY f984 
COMPUTING 

Personal Finance £6,SD 

Superb program offers: c-asseiie 

filing system, aulomalic moniniy 

payments li£l, 'help' funclion and 

excellent docu mentation. 

Charm 3 UM 

Print text on to the Pmode 3. 

Screen-define your own charac- 

tsfs. Includes (asl machine code 

loutire to (JO iha printing. 

Compreliiensiva lisar manual. 

if you use Hi-Res Ihis is a must! 

Casselte prices include 

post and packing 

STYLISH SYSTEMS 

?4PEVERILflVEHUE 
SCUMTNIRPE. SOUTH HJMBERSlOE 

Dm? iflE 



FREE LISTS OF Dragon software slill 
al lowest prices ev^r. For incredible 
money saving otfers send SAE today 
10.. ACS, PO 5oK. AT 15, Antrim, Coun- 
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CHECK YOUR POOLS 6ASILV, Dra 
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plans. SAE for details. John. 45 Smitf>s 
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AbacLJS Software . 

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Program Factory 40 



Rainbow 36 

Red Rom Data,.,..... 50 



S,P, Electronics,.. 50 

Salamander , , 67 

Shards Software 12 

Richard Shepherd 55 & 63 

Statacom 50 

Stocl^ade 60 

System-Soft 60 



Tiger Software.. ..,.,. 47 

Trojan Products 62 

Tudor Williams 50 

U 

Ultimate Software ... 60 



Viglen 27 

Voltmace 32 



W 

West Devon Electronics 48 

Windrush lyicro systems 10 

Wintersoft 54 

Wizzard Software 48 

February 19S4 Dragon User 65 



Competition Corner 



Answers to Competition Corner, 

Dragon User, 12/13 Littie Newport 

Street, London WC2R 3LD 



Adding sound 
and speecii 

A double chance to win a double prize from JCB 
Microsystems - if you can solve Gordon Lee's puzzle 



A NUMBER OF readers wrote in having 
had difficulty with the puzzle in ihe 
September edition of Dragon User, Yol 
may recall that the question involved two 
mathematicians. Sam and Paul, who had 
been given respeciiveiy, the sum and the 
product obtained from a throw of \hiee 
dice. 

After some time Paul, who had been 
given the proauct, stated That at Dest he 
could only narrow it down to one of two 
possibilities, Whereupon Sam, who had 

the sum, decfared that he had narrowed i! 
to three possjbilitfes, but now he knew the 
values of the dice thrown. 

Many readers tried to solve the puzzle 
by working out which dice throws could 
result in a sum obtainable in only three 
ways, and then tried to find the correct 
throw by relating these possibilities with 
the information given about the products. 
This failed to provide a unique answer. For 
prizes fike these do you think it's going to 
be that easy! 

Products . . , 

Here is how it's done. With three dice 

there are throws possible with sums rang- 
ing from three {triple one) to 18 (triple six), 
and products frcim one [triple one) to 216 
(thple six). In the case of the sums it can 
be readily seen that, with the exception of 
the very fowest and hig,hest scores, there 
are many different possibilities. From this it 
would seem that Sam, who was given the 
sum, was at a disadvantage. This was not 
so — as we shall see. 

Consider first the case of the products. 
First, run through all possible throws of 
three dice, counting the number of times 
that each different product is arrived at. 
This can be done with a simple program 
using the array DIM P(216), If the throws 
are generated in three FOR.-'NEXT loops 
A, B, and C, then O = A*B*C: P(Q) = 
P{Q) -t- 1 will do this. When generating the 
throws, if A is always taken as the largest 
value shown on the dice, and C the 
smallest, ft will eliminate p rob lens caused 
by duplication of throws. For instance, the 
throw of two, four and six in any order is 
only counted the once. 

Now, as Paul is unable to provide an 
answer there must be more than one set ot 
dice throws that can form that product. Ask 
the computer to print out these values: 
FOR N = 1 TO 216: IF P(N) > 1 THEN 



Prfz«s 



THIS MONTH there an© two sets of pizes 
to be won — so we're looking for two 
winners Each will receive a package of 
software from JCB Microsystems of 
Bournemouth consisting of its Sound 
Extension Module, Speech Synthesis 
Module, the an;;a.de game Basil Goes 
Ballooning and Basic Enhancer, a utili- 
ties program which speeds up Basic by 
strjppjrig out REM statements, etc. 



Rules 



TO WIN the package of software you 
have to send in the most elegant 
Solution to the puzzle. You must show 
iKfth the answer to the competitior^ and 
how to solve it with the use of a Basic 
program developed on your Dragon, As 
a tiebreaker, complete the following 
sentence in 15 words or fess; "I want to 
add speech and sound to my Dragon 
because . , ," 

Your entry must arrive at Dragon 
U$er by the fast working day in Febru- 
ary 1984, The names of the winners, 
and the solution to the puzzle, will be 
published in our May issue. You may 
onfy enter the competition once. Entries 
will not be acknowledged and we can- 
not enter into correspondence on the 
final result. 



PRINT N: NEXT N 

From this we can see that Paul must have 
been given either 4, 6, e, 13, 16, 18, 20, 
24, 30, 36, 48, 60, or 72 as the product. 

The next step is to modify the program 
to print out the dice values for these 
products. The results should be listed in 
table form. 

Values of the dice 



Product 


(sums in brackets) 


4 


2,2,1 (5) 4,1.1 (6) 


6 


3,2,1 (6) 6,1,1 (6) 


e 


2,2,2(6) 4,2,1 (7) 


12 


3,2,2 f7) 4,3,1 (SJ 6,2,1 (9) 


16 


4,2,2(8) 4,4,1 {9) 


18 


3,3,2(8) 6,3,1 (10) 


20 


5,2.2(9) 4,5,1 (10) 


24 


4,3,2(9) 6,2,2(10)6,4.1 (11) 


30 


5,3,2(10)6,5,1 (12) 


36 


4,3,3(10)6,3,2(11)6,6,1 (13) 


48 


4,4,3(11)6,4,2(12) 


60 


5,4,3 (12) 6.5.2 (13) 


72 


e,4,3(13)6,6.2(14) 



66 Dragon User February 1 984 



While all this has been happening, we 
assume that Sam, realising that the sum 
that he has been given is not much use on 
its own, would be preparing such a table, 
since he might reasonably suppose that as 
Paul did not immediately come up with an 
answer, there must be more than one 
possibility open to someone who only 
knew the product. 

Sam would then compare his sum with 
trie values on the table. Therefore, once 
Paul announces that he has narrowed it 
down to two possibilities, only if Sam's 
sum was 1 1 would he be able to make the 
statement; "I had reduced it to three 
possibilities, but now J can eliminate all but 
the correct one, ' The irT>portant clue that 
many readers missed was that Sam's 
statement was not made until after Paul 
had made his, and it was made on the 
strength of Sam having prepared the table 
of values and not solely on the sum that he 
had been given. Therefore the three dice 
thrown were;: 4,4, and 3, 

I hope that's put puzzled readers' minds 
at rest. And in case any readers are also 
wondering why no winner is announced 
this month, the answer to that is simpler. 
Because of Christmas this issue of the 
magazine had to be put together eariier 
than usual, before all the competition 
entries had come in. So you'll have to wart 
for the next issue to find out who s won the 
Dragon 64 — and how. In the meantime 
here's the latest competition, which makes 
the most of a traditional February event, 

. . . and pennies 

There was an unusual game at the 
Youth Club Valentines Day Dance. The 
prizes were 'penny chews, and the ob- 
ject was to win as many as possible. First 
of all some slips of paper were numbered 
consecutively from 1 to 200 and each 
pfayer was invited to choose one of these 
slips. The players had then to line up in 
front of a table on which were the box of 
chews and a card with these instructions 
on it: 

TAKE A PENNY CHEW. 
IF THE NUMBER ON YOUR SLIP OF 
PAPER CONTAINS AT LEAST ONE 
SEVEN, THEN ADD 7, OTHERWISE 
SUBTRACT13. 

IF YOUR NUMBER FALLS TO LESS 
THAN 1 YOU MUST RETIRE FROM THE 
GAME. 

GO TO THE BACK OF THE QUEUE AND 
WAIT FOR YOUR NEXT TURN. 

The game continued until all the pfayers 
had been eliminated. The following state- 
ments were overheard: Annabel: 'I had 
the maj(imum possible number of sweets ' 
— Bryan; "Both Jane and I had 32 sweets 
each" — Chrissie: "I had eight sweets leas 
than Annabel" — Daniel: "The number of 
sweets I received was the same as the 
number on my paper at the start of the 
game, but with the figures reversed ". 
However, one of the statements was incor- 
rect. Who made It, and what numbers 
did the others start the game with? 



THE DAN BIAMOm) TRILOGY 



Mynain&is Diamond^ 
Dan Diamond^ ^^ -) 

and this is my story; A story _/ 
of beautiful mi^rmalds, . ; ./ ^ ' 
bored: robots and danlc^ dark 
dungeons; A story tliat 
started one muggy day ^ 
in New York, and like ^ 
the Big Apple, it's 
rotten to the core. 



The Dan Diamond . ^ 
Trilogy is tliree . 
separate adventure 
games. Each, game . 
may he played on its 
own, but clues may 
he found in the ., -^1 
earlier adventures 
Which may help * 
later on. Each ^^ 
game comes with 
a lavishly illustrated ■; 
20-page case tile, and 
hints Choth helpful and 
misleading;) which' - 
have been hidden in ■ ' 
the illustrations. : * ' * 

' . ^ Part r. Pranldlii's 
'. ^^ Tomt, ta which our 
-^C^ '^ hero receives a.-— ~ 
"^ /f\ '■ ^'^ysterious plea 
4j ij<^ ' for help which 
-^ ;/ leads him to a 
P hidden toznh and 
the mystery of th.e 
stargate. 



# 



^:,^''^ ■', 






^^ 



Part n. Lost in 

Space, in vrhlch 
, our hero finds' ^ 
himself stranded 
on a derelict 
spacecraft, doomed 
\ to travel endlessly 
throug;h space, or 
find a way out. 



AQ three programs cost 4^9.95 each and are available/ 
for the DRAGON 38, BBC MODEL B and 48k OBIG-1 / 
microcomputers. C^iote; Fishy Business for the BBC — ^ 
^ - and ORIC will be available February 1 984>. 

Cheques or postaJ orders payable to: 



Part HI. Fishy 
Business, in which 
^ our hero lands on a 

^f^' watery planet, 
E-' discovers the 
/ sour c e of tHe plea 
^ for help and saves 
rthe day. 



^^£? 










5 D F T UU R R 



17 Worfolh: Koad, Brigliton, East Sussex^ "BNl 3JLA. 

Loolt out for Ban Diamond's nejct Adventure Series "Pranldin. In Wonderland" Available Spring 1984 



LIFT OFF with 




/ 



.y-- 



X 



X 




'**► 



'\ 



? 


^^^^1 


J 


^^^^^^H 




ISfi^ 




■ 










MISSION BRIEF 

Successfully pilot the Shuttle through Launch, Fetch & Finals Takeoff and position Shuttle in orbit 
Manoeuvre alongside ma I f u nctioni ng Satel I ite. Retrieve - 1 hen f e-en ter to glide without fuel to Wh ite Sands Desert, 



PREVIOUS SUCCESSFUL MISSIONS 

EXCELLENT - "Personal Computer News" 

A WELL THOUGHT OUT GAME - "Dragon User" 

ALMOST WORTH BUYING A DRAGON FOR - 

•'Which Micro" 



Postal Orders tO 

41 Truro Road, St. AusteH, CornwaH PL2S 5JE 

Tehphone/Credii Card Order 

J6i: 0726 3456 



(Ol 




*» MfSStON STATUS Available for 

48K ORIC 1. ATARI 16K, DRAGON 32, BBC 
** MODEL B, SPECTRUM 48K, COMMODORE 64, 
ACORN ELECTRON, TANDY COLOUR 32K 

CASSETTE E8 DISK £10 

Avaifabie from computer deshrs 
natiofywids or iidm iargsr branches i>f 



John Menzies
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